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A review by christineliu
Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft by Samantha Silva
5.0
Mary Wollstonecraft's too short but remarkable life was filled with loss, love, obsession, and a prodigious output of philosophical writings. Love and Fury by Samantha Silva is a fictionalized account of the days following the birth of Wollstonecraft's second daughter — who would one day become the author of Frankenstein. The narrative alternates between the midwife's attempts to tend to her during the complications that arise following the delivery and Wollstonecraft's own point of view as she recounts the story of her life to her newborn daughter.
I had only read parts of Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman for an undergrad course and didn't know much of her life, but this book has made me want to seek out everything she wrote and learn more about her. Although a work of fiction, it brings the thinking, feeling woman behind the philosophies to life. Silva's Mary Wollstonecraft is a woman who, in her own words, seeks above all else "a vigorous mind and finely fashioned nerves that vibrate with rapture, and nature." I was captivated by her and her story and thought Silva did a great job showing her progression from a young, insecure girl to the woman who confidently meets her midwife, Mrs. Blenkinsop at the door at the start of the book.
For me, the best part of this book was the cornucopia of female relationships that shaped Wollstonecraft's life — the emotionally distant mother that she protected from her tyrannical father, the schoolmate that she develops an almost obsessive fondness for, the like-minded friend who becomes her closest and dearest companion, various luminaries who were her contemporaries, the daughters that she loved with her whole being, and with Mrs. Blenkinsop herself.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I think I devoured it in about two days. This is an immersive and well-crafted work of historical fiction, written in lovely, smooth, thoughtful prose. It's definitely one of the more memorable fictionalized biographies I've read, and I would love to see Samantha Silver write more like this.
I had only read parts of Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman for an undergrad course and didn't know much of her life, but this book has made me want to seek out everything she wrote and learn more about her. Although a work of fiction, it brings the thinking, feeling woman behind the philosophies to life. Silva's Mary Wollstonecraft is a woman who, in her own words, seeks above all else "a vigorous mind and finely fashioned nerves that vibrate with rapture, and nature." I was captivated by her and her story and thought Silva did a great job showing her progression from a young, insecure girl to the woman who confidently meets her midwife, Mrs. Blenkinsop at the door at the start of the book.
For me, the best part of this book was the cornucopia of female relationships that shaped Wollstonecraft's life — the emotionally distant mother that she protected from her tyrannical father, the schoolmate that she develops an almost obsessive fondness for, the like-minded friend who becomes her closest and dearest companion, various luminaries who were her contemporaries, the daughters that she loved with her whole being, and with Mrs. Blenkinsop herself.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I think I devoured it in about two days. This is an immersive and well-crafted work of historical fiction, written in lovely, smooth, thoughtful prose. It's definitely one of the more memorable fictionalized biographies I've read, and I would love to see Samantha Silver write more like this.