Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley had talent, position, and friends, but the contradictions between his ideals and his life landed him in one escapade after another; dodging creditors, eloping twice (the second time while already married), and ultimately losing much by refusing to back down from his beliefs. Waterlow's biography examines Shelley's art, his business ventures, and his relationship with his contemporaries, including Mary Wollstonecraft (later Mary Shelley, his wife, and the author of Frankenstein. This is a great portrait of an artist who defined the Gothic gloom and ennui of the modern poet, and of a life that is a testament to drinking deeply from life's cup.