Claire Clairmont and the Shelleys 1798-1879
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Claire Clairmont, the stepsister of Mary Shelley, has usually been presented as a minor, though damaging figure in the great dramas of Shelley and Byron. This first continuous account of her long and adventurous life describes her upbringing in Godwin's progressive household, her close but ambiguous relationship with Percy and Mary Shelley, and her role as the mother of Allegra, her illegitimate daughter by Byron, who died in childhood. It continues with the struggle to maintain herself independently after Shelley's death, refusing offers of marriage and working as governess among a variegated series of families in Florence, Vienna, Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, and London.
Drawing on her vivid letters and journals, the authors portray a woman of talent and resilience making her way in nineteenth-century Europe. They show her sharp judgement, her powers of observation, her flair for languages, and the lovely singing voice which drew poems from Shelley and Byron.
Robert Gittings and Jo Manton bring into focus a lesser-known life of much drama and pathos, at the same time enhancing our knowledge of the main characters of the Romantic movement, and their world.
The late Robert Gittings was a critic, poet, and biographer, and the author of Dorothy Wordsworth (OUP, Southern Arts Literature Prize 1987). He was also the author of John Keats (W. H. Smith Literary Award 1969, Heineman Educational Books), Young Thomas Hardy (Christian Gauss Award 1985, HEB), and The Older Hardy (RSL Heinemann Award 1979, James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1979, HEB).
Jo Manton is a historical researcher and the author of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and, with Gittings, Dorothy Wordsworth and The Second Mrs Hardy.