Clairmont

Author: Lesley McDowell

Format: Paperback

The spellbinding, bold new retelling of the story of Lord Byron and the Shelleys, from the perspective of Claire Clairmont, the incredible woman that history tried to forget.

1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shelley have chosen to visit the infamous Lord Byron at his villa on Lake Geneva. It wasn’t their idea: Mary’s eighteen year old step-sister, Claire Clairmont, insisted.

But the reason for Claire’s visit is more pressing than a summer escape with the most famous writers in the world. She’s pregnant with Byron’s child – a child Byron doesn’t want, and scarcely believes is his own.

Claire has the world in her grasp. This trip should have given her everything she ever dreamed of. But within days, her life will be in ruins.

History has all but forgotten her story – but she will not be silenced.

‘Beautifully written, Clairmont tells the sensuous hidden story of an influential historic woman.’ — Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year

‘An absorbing, intoxicating page-turner about a woman who deserves to be remembered.’ — Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne and Atalanta

‘Riveting – a clever portrait of a fascinating, flawed heroine.’ — Sunday Times

‘An intimate and enlightening tale of one of Romanticism’s forsaken muses – an artfully told story that lingers in the mind far beyond the last page’ — Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora

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