On the one hand there’s the posse of poets and writers including Mary Shelley, her husband/lover Percy Bysshe Shelly, and of course Lord Byron.Their bohemian lifestyle and long discussions about literature struck a chord, reminding me of fun times spent in kitchens over coffee or wine. On the other hand there’s a modern woman, a scholar, coming to England to present a paper on Shelley and feminism; she’s running away from a tragedy and a divorce, but finds herself haunted and caught up in the dreams of Mary Shelley herself. In other words, they’re dreaming of each other in a landscape where time is irrelevant…

While many of the conclusions drawn by modern-day Anna and her two male companions (a bit like Shelley and Byron in their roles, it turns out) sound a bit like the kids in Scooby Doo talking out the plot, I’m interested in spirituality and spiritualism and found the ideas poking at some parts of my own life that I’d let slide a bit–enough to do some further research and reading, at least.

I loved the coincidences, and the little clues left lying around for the reader to connect the dots, though it was definitely very hard to follow when the two main ladies started having dreams within dreams. I did, however, especially appreciate the descriptions of England and Scotland, and the wonderful little plot twist right at the end where the author, in a way, writes herself into the book.

There were even a couple of historical markers! :: grin ::

I can’t imagine how much research went into this book, but I really enjoyed it almost despite myself, and it resonated for me because of the somewhat neglected interests from my twenties. I don’t know if others would enjoy it, but it got my creative juices flowing a little, and I’m starting to have some ideas about what I might do for NaNoWriMo in November, should I decide to partake in that insanity for the fourth time. ;)