The Glowing Hours I found to be surprisingly gothic horror. I went in to this read completely blind to the plot and was expecting a wholesome story about an Indian girl finding her way in a Bridgerton era England. Her character started off sheltered and haughty but slowly morphed into a lonely, abandoned individual just trying to protect herself against a society that only would accept her as a maid or a nanny. Things turn towards the paranormal when Mehr (the FMC) starts connecting to a seemingly haunted portrait and trying to piece together what isn’t quite right about the villa she and the family she works for are staying at.

I thoroughly enjoyed the character arc that readers received and loved a neatly wrapped ending that not only fulfilled my spooky little heart but tied all loose ends in a creative way. Bravo.

This was overall good - It reminds me of Mexican Gothic and The Hacienda. I didn't love the ending, but the rest of the story was good. I thought that the fictionalized versions of the historical characters were well done, and it made me interested in re-learning what I had known about their true historical counterparts. Mehr was an interesting character and to me very fully realized. Overall, good but nothing that blew my mind.

The Glowing Hours by Leila Siddiqui (to be published in 2026) is a paranormal historical story that centers on Mehrunissa Begum, an Indian woman of a high-ranking family, who after her mother’s death must travel to England to inform her brother of his inheritance. Upon her arrival, she finds that neither her brother and her father are there to take her in and so she must stay at a home for Indian ayas. As time goes on, she takes the job of housemaid at the home of none other than the Shelleys. She accompanies Percy and Mary Shelley to Switzerland where they meet with Lord Byron and John Polidori and stay at the lavish Diodati villa. Here, they all find themselves to be physically haunted by the ghosts of their pasts and must break from the spells that hold them to the villa.

Mehr is a complex character who believes herself to be superior to others while still having a small form of empathy, which makes her mildly unlikable as she refuses to adapt to new surroundings. She has a strange relationship with Mary Shelley, which is close yet distant at the same time. They share a short sapphic moment together, but the book is not queer nor is it any sort of focus. There are a few situations which feel manufactured to place Mehr at the center of the action, such as Byron inviting her to participate in their evenings of creation, despite her being a housemaid and being historically unlikely. There are also many unexplained events in this book which are big plot holes that are never addressed, such as the mystery of the woman in the painting or the random ghost lady that first appears to Mehr. The actions of Byron and Percy near the ending do not make any sense at all and are ridiculous and a huge plot hole.

In this story, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley are depicted as bullies to the women around them and to John Polidori. The main antagonist is Byron, who is a sexist narcissist drunk on his own money and fame. Mehr also experiences racism from the very first time she sets foot on the boat to Byron’s assumptions that he knows about Mehr because she is Muslim. Byron’s aggressions are always dark and cruel, but for some reason Mary, Claire, and Polidori put up with him. Many elements and events of this book are unexplained, which makes them unsurprising and underdeveloped. The ghosts themselves do not have enough backdrop to make them impactful. The hauntings are not gradual, but they occur from the first and to different extents which makes them seem disjointed. In this story, Mary Shelley is almost completely lacking in will or in power. She seems uncritical and accepting of her role in the sidelines, unacknowledged in her creativity or her ideas. This book also starts off with a strong plot, but it seems to diffuse as it advances. Halfway through the plot becomes tenuous.

I liked that this book gives John Polidori his due, as he the most overlooked Gothic writer of the group. The writing style is strong and stylistic, however, these element cannot surmount the shortcomings of the plot. This is book is overall a nod to the Gothic in Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley’s writings and the legacy that they have left behind through a paranormal take on their stay in Switzerland. Novels on the British romanticism writers are not very many and this book fills this gap, yet its lack of explanations and failure to bridge gaps lower the quality of the story.

I love the cover of this book. The prose is really pretty, and I definitely felt the creepy vibes come alive off the pages.

What a disappointing read.

Described as a book following “the fabled summer Mary Shelley began work on Frankenstein”, this book actually had very little of Mary Shelley in it at all and barely touched on anything related to Frankenstein.

Mehr, forced from her comfortable life in India, finds herself stranded in Europe. With nowhere else to turn, she takes employment as a housekeeper to earn the funds needed to return home. Mehr finds herself in the employ of the young Shelley’s, and, as the summer progresses, finds herself drawn into their madness.

The Glowing Hours has such a promising premise; it follows Mary Shelley’s summer in Switzerland as she begins Frankenstein with a haunting twist. I liked that the point-of-view came from someone other than Shelley herself. Being told from Mehr’s view gave the story another layer of depth while also providing interesting insight because of both their class and cultural differences.

As far as horror goes, I didn’t find this one to be particularly haunting. Then again, I didn’t find Mexican Gothic to be that way either; this novel feels a lot like that one stylistically and atmospherically, so if that’s your type of horror, this one could be right up your alley. Honestly though, a lot of this book just follows Mehr doing her chores. A lot.

The characters are fine. They’re not particularly memorable or likable, but they’re fine. There’s very little real interaction between Mehr and Mary Shelley for a book that’s apparently about Mary Shelley’s iconic summer. I will admit that I didn’t know a whole lot about that summer prior to reading the book, but just a cursory bit of research shows that this book diverts pretty sharply from how that summer (apparently) went. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it’s just not what I was expecting, so if you’re a big Frankenstein or Mary Shelley buff, I would highly highly not recommend this book. I just don’t think it’s going to be what you’re expecting; it wasn’t what I was.

I just can’t recommend this book. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with it, it’s just very very boring. Definitely not my kind of read, and if I hadn’t received it as an ARC, I definitely would have DNFed it. Probably. If I hadn’t invested too much time just waiting for something good to happen.

I always enjoy a spooky vibe, and if you like Mary W. Shelley, then you will most likely enjoy this book!
Told from the perspective of Mehr, the housemaid to the Shelley family, this story follows her as she meets and learns about the Shelley's and their peculiar living situation. When the Shelley's are invited to visit Lord Byron on the Continent, of course they do not pass up the chance to rub elbows with one of England's greatest poets.
Unfortunately for everyone, a fun escape to the Continent is not all it cracks up to be, and strange voices, sounds, and apparitions soon appear before Mehr and the rest of the Shelley household.
A great quick read with lots of high anxiety points, jump scares, and questions of what is real and what is only a dream.

Solid story and plot. Great character development. Interesting take on a historical event. I enjoyed reading from the preceptive of the maid, a small side character in the behind the scenes type atmosphere. I have always been interested in the "holiday" that led to writing the first sci-fi story of our time.