Although fictional, I found that the real personality of Mary Shelley and her siblings came through as amazingly real. I have read many academic books on the subject of these Romantic poets whose loves and lives were so different from others in their society but this book by Ezra Barker Shaw depicts them so well, we can identify with them. Percy Shelley comes across as a man who truly embraces the theme of free love and as a wilful, idealistic young woman; Mary throws herself completely into his philosophy.
I found the writing tobe so visceral. The use of language and style is beautiful and I would recommend this book even to students of this period as it fully 'rounds out' the people. An excellent read. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC of The Aziola's Cry.

A story full of heartbreak, genius, and madness, this book left me eager to read more of Mary Shelley’s work with this new understanding of her life. Before diving into Shaw’s novel I knew nothing of Mary Shelley other than having read "Frankenstein". So I devoured this book with ferocity once it became clear from the first page that her life was somehow even more macabre than her magnum opus. I love when a book is able to personalise larger than life historical persons, and because Mary’s life was full of connections to other authors and thinkers, this book did so tremendously. Her relationship with fellow author and husband Percy Bysse Shelley was a cacophony of love and resentment and staged both of their bodies of work in such an interesting way. I felt so deeply for both Mary and Shelley: joy, wonder, resentment, frustration, which all compounded to leave me distraught at Shelley’s death, Mary’s bereavement, and their inability to escape tragedy.

If you're a fan of seeing history come to life, The Aziola's Cry is a must-read!

This well-researched novel plunges you into a vivid and meticulously detailed world that really comes to life. The story is rich with historical context, beautifully woven into an engaging narrative that keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Highly recommended for history enthusiasts and fiction lovers alike!

I loved this look at the life of Mary Shelley, and her sisters. It didn't shy away from showing the age and married status of Percy Shelley when he began pursuing Mary. And I thought it was well written and compelling. Though I was repulsed by his pursuit of her.

would give this 2.5! i felt like the story had a lot of potential and lovability from other readers & i really wanted to dive into it, but at the end it felt like rushing to finish it and not getting quite familiar with the writing tone - i bet this has a targeted reader out there and maybe to another life point, i’ll enjoy it more :)

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As a classics fan, there was much about this novel I enjoyed. I liked all the little things this novel taught me about the Shelley's life, particularly in regards to their writing collaboration. It was clearly meticulously researched, and I enjoyed the author's end note discussing their writing process as this project morphed from a more academic piece to a full fledged historical novel.

Unfortunately, the writing style was not for me, largely because it was written in present tense. For whatever reason, using present tense and full names for the characters for the first few chapters made the novel feel impersonal and difficult to visualize. However, putting aside my personal biases, this novel is clearly a formidable feat, both academically and literarily, and I'd like to give a hats off to Harker Shaw for all the work they put into this piece.

Publication Date: May 7, 2024

What a wonderful work of historical fiction depicting the unique relationship between Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) and Percy Bysshe Shelley. It was obvious that the author, Ezra Harker Shaw did a tremendous amount of research prior to writing this well written and well thought out, captivating book.

In 1814 Mary, an intelligent and brilliant teenager, fell in love with Percy Shelley. He was a married man, and she was sixteen years old living with her family. Both went against societal norms and family demands and expectations and ran away with Mary’s stepsister Claire. They lived an unconventional life, full of romance, debt, challenges, tragedy, loss, adventures, good friends, and free love.

Both had a shared passion for writing and enjoyed their relationship with Lord Byron. Both will go on to become brilliant writers and authors. Mary will write the literary classic, Frankenstein: by Mary Shelley and Percy will write Poetry and essays.

I enjoyed how this book was broken up into different titled parts. Readers are given a glimpse in these literary giant’s lives, their love, their tragedies, their pain, their conquests, their travels, and their wandering lifestyle. I enjoyed the writing, the drama, the descriptions, the characterization of the writers/authors in this book, and their romantic yet tragic lives together.

Beautifully written, impressively researched, and expertly presented.

“Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin” “…what an extraordinary young woman you are.”

I’ve read both Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelly’s work, and as a result, I’ve loved English literature throughout grad school. I considered focusing my thesis on Mary Shelley, I ended up writing Dante and Rodin.

Most of what I’ve studied was the literary canon. I latched onto “Frankenstein” like a dog to a bone. I also read Mary Wollstonecraft ``A Vindication of The Rights of Women”. I actually found portions of the essay humorous.

I'm not a reader that enjoys romance novels. Yet, Mary and Percy’s love was a pleasure. I enjoyed this novel very much. A great deal of emotions were felt throughout the novel. Plus, the couple lived an unconventional lifestyle.

I appreciated that the novel was well researched, and the reader does not have read the works of Mary and Shelley. Perhaps the reader will become curious about their works. There was so much information for readers who are not familiar with Mary Shelley. But not too much backstory for the Frankenstein fans.

I enjoyed this novel very much, I appreciate that the novel was well researched. There was much information for readers who are not familiar with Mary Shelley. But too much for the Frankenstein fans.
Much emotion throughout the novel

I admired Ezra Harker’s storytelling. The author created a novel that appeals to readers that reads this novel as historical fiction and the reader that are familiar with ‘Frankenstein’.

Thank you Ezra Harker Shaw, OpenBookDesign.Biz, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the novel and I’ve written an honest review.

The Aziola’s Cry is as mournful and haunting as Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem about the ‘little downy owl’. Crafted around the years the Shelleys spent together, 1814-1822, Harker Shaw’s biographical fiction focuses on how those years may have contributed to literary conversation and collaboration between the two intellectuals.

In 1814, twenty-one-year-old Shelley declared undying love for the brilliant sixteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft. Refusing to be encumbered by the strictures of British society, Mary wholeheartedly agreed to become his mistress (Shelley was married, although estranged from his wife at the time). Shunned by her outraged family, Shelley, Mary, and her stepsister, Jane (Claire Clairmont), left for the continent. For Mary there was no other option. Shelley was her destiny, the mirror to her soul.

Their peripatetic lifestyle was dogged by financial insecurity, tragedy, and loss, one event after another. Mary, wrapped in her unspeakable grief, became distant, unable to give of herself, and concentrated instead on her writing. Shelley, who craved her companionship like the air he breathed, found some comfort in other pursuits.

Harker Shaw’s Shelley is a conflicted soul, slandered in England as an atheist, a revolutionary and a writer of immoral works. His fear that no one would ever read his words overrode his wish to contribute to the betterment of mankind. Mary was a consistent stabilising force for his inner torment. Harker Shaw’s first-person narrative is a spell-binding historical account, an enduring ode to the terrible price the Shelleys paid for their love―a viscerally painful story of unrelenting loss. Pages are haunted by an overriding sense of fate. Magnificent descriptions of violent storms foreshadow the future. Periods of happy bliss alternate with overwhelming grief and melancholy. Harker Shaw sticks very closely to historical fact, which could become tedious, yet this emotionally stirring love story is a work of beauty I won’t soon forget.

A very informative and realistic-feeling presentation of the lives Mary Godwin Shelly and Percy Shelly. I've long been fascinated with the origins of Frankenstein and Lord Byron's connection to the Shelly's. This book provided an intimate view of their lives and of the tragedies that Mary endured. I was particularly struck by the very clear and concise descriptions of the natural world, particularly in the second half of the book. I understand that the author may be writing a sequel that presents the rest of Mary's life. I certainly hope so.

My thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

This novel definitely hits the mark for the publisher’s intent of teaching history through fiction but I lost interest pretty quickly.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.

I’m leaning more towards 3.5. The book is so creative, and I enjoyed the poetic parts, but overall I was struggling to connect with the story, tho I wanted to love it.

The Aziola's Cry tells the relationship between poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Both embody what the Romantic movement entailed: rejecting social conventions like traditional marriage and religion; living through passion and instinct, as well as traveling to exotic locales to experience what earlier civilizations, like the Greeks and Romans, taught about life, philosophy, art, poetry, etc.; and exulting in the glories of Nature. The Shelleys suffer for living through their passions as their families cut them off when they run away together, and heartache seems to haunt them at every turn through their time together. Instead of triumphantly showing how to live successfully by living by one's own rules, the Shelleys act out their own tragedy.

Ezra Harker Shaw does a fantastic job of writing in the tone of the time period while still keeping the story modern enough for non-Romantic scholars to enjoy. Portions of Shelley's poetry is interwoven into the narrative to give the novel a flavor for his poetry without being bogged down by long passages that would require footnotes that might be unappealing to some readers. The artist's craft is also discussed and makes the novel interesting to read for creative writers. The history of the time period is brought to life as are the foreign locations that the pair travel to. Even if readers are not familiar with the Romantics at all, this finely crafted novel gives a three dimensional atmospheric look at what life was like in the early 1800s and can be a counterpoint to fans of Jane Austen's novels which were printed around the same time.

"men do not have hearts like we women do.......and yet we are compelled to love them,! So says Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.
Compelled to love Percy Bysshe Shelley when she is a teenager despite warnings about him and his 'marriage' with a child causes scandal amongst the society into which the Wollstonecraft/Godwin names are already entangled.
I did know quite a bit about their lives so was interested to see if the author put a new spin on the tale. Sometimes there were points of interest with respect to the introduction of Shelley's verse - especially The Aziola which begins the book and in which Mary is referenced.
However I did feel the real characters were often described in their stereotypes - particularly Byron. I worked for a while at Byron's Gothic home - Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire- and learnt a lot about him and his life. Much of this argued against his wild reputation and of course being 'mad, bad and dangerous to know. I think there could have also been more description about the scenery and locations especially the famous gathering in Geneva at Villa Diodati where the guests are encouraged to "Let us have another ghost story," and of course Mary Shelley's famous novel Frankenstein is born.
Menage a trois and tragic deaths seem to pursue famous poets and the tale of Shelley is no different. He was always in debt profligate with money and with women. I disliked him even more after reading this!
But of course it is the work - poems and novels that endure. I wonder what Mary's mother would really have thought of Shelley? Much less than her daughter I think.

Thoroughly well researched, with beautiful and elaborate writing, but rather slow moving.

I suspect this would be perfect for those loving the Shelley's, their history and slow, descriptive prose, but this just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thisis without a doubt the most beautifully written prose I have read in a long time, perhaps ever.

The Aziola's Cry follows the extraordinary love story of Percy and Mary Shelley and posits how two remarkable young people encouraged each other to create stunning works that would inevitably affect the literary world.

It is apparent that The Aziola's Cry was a labor of love by someone who not just cares about the Shelleys but also cares about telling their story as honestly (emotionally and factually) as possible.

The Aziola’s Cry by Ezra Harper Shaw tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley and their unconventional relationship. The story begins with their meeting when Mary is 16 and ends with Shelley’s drowning in Italy. It follows them through their broken relationships with family, financial troubles resulting from those relationships and a society that loathed the unconventional ideas espoused by Shelley and His circle of friends and fellow poets, and through the personal tragedies that Shelley and Mary experienced in raising a family. The writer’s treatment of their complexities takes the readers through laughter, disbelief, and sorrow at the hardships they endure.

Harper Shaw’s writing is worthy of the Romantic writers with their emotional, detailed, and realistic imagery. The novel is a trip through England , the continent, and then finally Italy , all the while in the company of sympathetic characters with beautiful settings.

I am grateful to NetGalley for this copy of The Aziola’s Cry in return for an honest review.

Suffering is for the living .

I loved this! You can really tell that the author took time in researching about the Shelley’s and it shows. The way grief is discussed and shown through the book, is amazing every character has a unique way of expressing their feelings. I was really surprised at how much I felt for this family. I would recommend this book if you love Frankenstein as much as I do.

Looking forward to reading more from this author.

NetGalley Review-Thank you

The prose was beautiful and I had a really good time with this historical story. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

A great read for lovers of Historical Fiction. Really interesting to read more about the lives of Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. They chose to live their lives differently from the norm but they lived for love. Couldn't put this one down.