I loved this book the first time and the second time I read it. The writing was wonderful, as was the level of historical detail--heart wrenching and passionate. Just loved it! I rarely re-read books anymore, so this was a special book.

Mary Wollstonecraft was known for being a feminine rights activist and for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In this historical novel, Mary has just given birth to a daughter, the future Mary Shelley. However, she never recovers from childbirth. As she lays dying, Mary Wollstonecraft remembers her life that consists of many sorrows. Through each sorrow, she finds a determination to live.

Mary Wollstonecraft has suffered through many hardships. These hardships have shaped her beliefs on women’s rights. She comes from an abusive family and has a passion for book learning. Because she is a woman, few prospects are open to her. She strives to find a way to break through these barriers and vows to never marry. Mary has always been a champion for women’s rights. She first opens a school for girls. Then, she turns into a governess herself. Later, she has discourses with philosophers and writers about women’s rights. and frequently writes. She was a very admirable woman. The only thing I thought she was weak at was her love for Gilbert Imlay. She clings to him even though he made it obvious that he is no longer interested in her. Still, I found her to be a sympathetic character and pitied her woes.

Overall, this book is about hardships, feminism, and freedom. The message of the book is that God is there for you throughout the good times and the bad times. The story is mostly told in first person through Mary’s perspective with some chapters from her midwife, Mrs. B’s, perspective. I found the characters to be very fascinating. A few things that I did not like about this novel was that I thought it ended abruptly. It did not discuss how Mary came to marry her husband William Godwin. I thought it strange that the novel discussed the motivation for why a woman who vows never to marry and to suddenly settle for marriage. I would have liked the novel to go into detail about Mary’s courtship and marriage. Thus, the novel felt incomplete. I also thought Mrs. B to be an unnecessary narrator, and rather preferred the story to be told solely by Mary. Still, this novel illuminates the life of a famous feminist. Many novels have focused on Mary’s daughter, Mary Shelly. It was time that the spotlight shone on Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft! I recommend this novel for fans of Vindicated, The Determined Heart, and Almost Invincible!

Love and Fury brings to vivid life the formidable Mary Wollstonecraft through a series of dreamlike reflections on life from her deathbed. She delivers a weak but healthy baby, the future Mary Shelley, under the watchful eye of a local midwife still reeling from the loss of her husband. The birth goes wrong, and as Mary comes to terms with her impending death, we learn more of her complicated past. From an abusive, impoverished childhood where she yearned for a true education to finding (and losing) deep love to discovering a defiant voice through her writing on women's rights, she navigates a tumultuous journey to happiness, which she realizes is now fleeting.

4.5/5: A beautiful ode to a stubborn, influential figure. Silva explores greater questions of independence, loneliness, love, and humanity through Mary's life and the midwife who meets her at its end. Well-written and broad in its scope, even with the relatively short page count. Highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the extraordinary Mary Wollstonecraft or looking for a strong work of women-led historical fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the idea of the book, but it was quite slow and read like a "historical novel" as opposed to history written like fiction.

While I liked it, I would not recommend it unless you are a real fan of historical novels.

While staying true to history and respecting the legacy of one of the feminist movement's pioneers, Samantha Silva's lavishly written Love and Fury offers readers a sorrowful but uplifting retelling of Mary Wollstonecraft's life.

Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for being an early advocate for women's rights and the mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Undeniably ahead of her time, Wollstonecraft suffered a tarnished reputation until she was elevated to icon status in the 20th century as feminist ideology gathered steam.

Aside from penning multiple works of fiction and non-fiction — most famously A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Wollstonecraft lived a colorful life filled with love, loss and acts of defiance. It was the events of this life that overshadowed her legacy (see Beyond the Book). In Love and Fury, however, her story is told with a deft blend of sensitivity and aplomb.

Read the full review at BookBrowse

Samantha Silva’s new historical fiction novel tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Godwin, the mother Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, was a writer in her own right as well as an early feminist. This captivating and inspiring account is written in alternating chapters narrated by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Mrs. Blenkinsop, the midwife who has just delivered Godwin’s second child. Facing death after a difficult labor Mary, acting on the advice of Mrs. Blenkinsop, relates the story of her life to her newborn daughter. Starting with her childhood, Mary’s life is one of struggle and loss. Her father is an alcoholic, who forces himself upon her mother during his drunken nights and Mary feels the need to protect her mother by sleeping on the floor outside her door. Later, when her brother is to be institutionalized, Mary takes it upon herself to find him an apprenticeship, saving him from the horrors of the insane asylums of the day. Finally on her own, she befriends Frances Blood, a botanist, who suffers from tuberculous and is the sole support of her family. Devastated by Blood’s death she takes on the responsibilities of supporting her friend’s family, as well as her own two sisters, one of whom she saved from a fate similar to their mother’s.

Mary’s own career leads her to friendships with some of Europe’s leading thinkers, artists, and writers. After a few failed relationships of her own, one of which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter, Mary finally finds happiness, albeit short-lived, with William Godwin.

This is a fascinating novel of an 18th century woman whose struggles to obtain the life she desires have echoes in our own time. Balancing the pursuit of a career with the role of wife and mother, is still a struggle for today’s women. This is a heartbreaking, yet inspirational story, told with beautifully crafted prose and a memorable story line.

Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer, philosopher and arguably the first champion of women's rights, who lived from 1759-1797. Her life was full of trials and tribulation but she also experienced great love in her short life and found much joy in nature. One of the great struggles of her life was whether she must 'sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her heart.' Can a woman have it all?

I thought the writing of this work of historical fiction was superb--lovely and touching. Mary is in labor with her second child as we meet her, being aided by the midwife, Parthenia Blenkinsop. The story is told in part by Mrs B as she observes what is happening in the Godwin household, before and after the birth of the baby who will come to be known as Mary Shelley. The other part is Mary Wollstonecraft's life story as she tells it to her newborn daughter. Fascinating! This will be a must-read for many bookclubs because there are so many issues to discuss.

I received an arc of this new novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity!

On August 30, 1797, midwife Parthenia Blenkinsop arrives at a house in North London to deliver Mary Wollstonecraft’s baby. She’s expecting another routine birth but finds the woman now renowned as the world’s first feminist philosophizer anything but ordinary. When Wollstonecraft fails to deliver her placenta, her husband, against Blenkinsop’s better judgment, calls for a male doctor, who performs a procedure that will ultimately lead to Wollstonecraft’s death by septicemia.

During the eleven days Wollstonecraft clings to life, she tells her new baby girl, the future Mary Shelley, her life story. She fears the fragile infant will not survive, so she tells her the tale to “bind (her) to this world.” In alternating chapters, the reader hears Wollstonecraft’s story, from her upbringing under an abusive father to her development of her feminist ideas, as well as Blenkinsop’s account of Mary’s agonizing final days.

In her previous novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, Silva proved herself a master at illuminating the lives and struggles of a famous author, and Love and Fury shows she will not be a one-hit wonder. Wollstonecraft’s account of her life, written in first person, draws the reader into the time period and the struggles and limitations women faced, while Blenkinsop’s third-person chapters give a broader perspective on Wollstonecraft’s life and ideas. Both characters are fully fleshed out and beautifully human. Even readers typically uninterested in this time period will find themselves sucked into Silva’s lyrical prose. Highly recommended.

Samantha Silva gives us a story of Mary Shelly's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who was a woman well ahead of her time, a woman with strength strongly committed to gender equality. This work, although a historical fiction account, was stunning in its writing and wealth of information. Through the pages you find a woman of flesh and blood, not just a character in a novel, My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

This is a fictional telling of Mary Wollstonecraft's story told primarily from her own point of view while talking to her newborn, the future Mary Shelley.

An okay read, dragged a bit in the middle.

2.75☆

Wow. I didn't go into this book with any expectations, having never read a book by this author before, but I was completely floored with how compulsively readable and beautifully written this was. This definitely is one of my top favorite new releases that I have read thus far this year. This book tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft's life, from adolescence to adulthood by using an alternating timeline, switching back and forth seamlessly between the past and Mary's coming of age, and the present as Mary gives birth to her daughter, the future Mary Shelley. I knew a bit about Mary Wollstonecraft going into this, having read a great deal about her daughter Mary and her later husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, but this book really filled in a lot of gaps for me. I had no idea how truly difficult Mary's childhood was and the hardships she faced, (her father was an abusive alcoholic), and no idea how much these experiences would later shape her into such a champion of women's rights in her adult life. I also had no idea that Mary had a romantic relationship and friendship with another woman before her eventual marriage to William Godwin, so that was a truly unexpected and lovely surprise. This book really did a wonderful job of bringing Mary's story to life. Wollstonecraft's revolutionary legacy has arguably never been more relevant, and this book will surely inspire anyone who picks it up.

Well-crafted novel of Mary Wollstonecraft – arguably the world’s first feminist, one of the world’s most influential thinkers and mother of the famous novelist Mary Shelley.

London, 1797. A midwife named Mrs. B arrives at Mary’s house as Mary is about to give birth to her second child. Mrs. B, after attending the birth, now is assisting the weak and feverish mother. She relates the events of those few days with warmness and attentiveness, happening in present time.

The story alternates between these two women. As Mary’s story goes back in time, it gives a better understanding of what made Mary who she is. And it is written in a form of Mary relating the events to her just born daughter, Mary Shelley.

When Mary’s family moves from the city to the country, she meets a young girl whose father is a scientist. His lectures which she attends make her heart swell with determination to overcome certain obstacles she faces. She is a smart girl and wants to attend advanced classes at school, but those classes are meant for boys. She is told to focus more on embroidery. As they move yet to another village with no school for Mary and no more of John Arden’s lectures. What she sees is a village of lunatics. Or is it so? The local Reverend asks her about her view of John Locke. She has no knowledge of him. And that can be fixed per Reverend. “Creatures of the same species, (…) had a natural equality, and no husband should have more power over his wife’s life than she had over his.” And that becomes Mary’s motto.

I enjoyed both characters very much. However, as this is Mary’s story she takes the center stage. She puts herself on a path to a life of her own choosing, her own direction, and her dreams. She also goes through losses in her life that steal her fire, but she is reminded to grow from it, and to remember her purpose. And that’s when she puts pen to paper. This later leads her to taking part in literary and philosophical discussions among men, gaining their respect.

As the story alternates between these two women who give out pieces of their stories, they capture your attention from the very beginning and hold it to the very end. They know how to pull you into this story and keep you hooked thoroughly and throughout.

The combination of two interesting characters, and their stories being presented in such human way and with mesmerizing prose – making this story a very memorable, profound and spellbinding read.

I was thrilled to see a novel about Wollstonecraft, and told primarily from her point of view (under the narrative framework of telling her story to her newborn daughter, the future Mary Shelley, in the 11 days that passed between the birth and Wollstonecraft's death) no less. I wish it hadn't ended where it did – I would have liked to see the evolution of her relationship with Godwin, and the sudden mindset shift following her second attempted suicide felt too abrupt – but overall, the execution didn't disappoint: this is a moving and compassionate feminist portrait of an extraordinary, complex woman ahead of her time, whose ideas helped reshape the world.