Biofictional Depictions of Mary Shelley’s Dundee

The tantalising tale of Mary’s life in Dundee, before she became the global phenomenon we know as Mary Shelley, has begun to attract authors, playwrights and other creatives. Here is a list of some of our favourites so far…

Poor Creatures (2025) by Mairi Kidd

This historical novel focuses on a group of wild, fiercely intelligent, yet vulnerable young women navigating the strictures of early 19th-century life. It explicitly reframes literary history from a female perspective, exploring the intense loyalties, jealousies, and bonds formed among a close-knit circle. Set directly in 1812 Dundee, the plot kicks off when a teenage Mary Godwin arrives at “The Cottage”—the Baxter family home nestled in the woodlands on the eastern edge of the River Tay. Sent north to heal from a mysterious illness, Mary forms an all-consuming, obsessive friendship with Isabel Baxter. The book acts as a piece of “visible mending” for the gaps in Mary's historical record. It details how their feverish youthful creativity was deeply shaped by the surrounding landscape and haunted by dark, monstrous human secrets.

Mary: or, the Birth of Frankenstein (2021) by Anne Eekhout

This psychological, biographical novel splits its narrative between two pivotal timelines: Geneva in 1816 (the famous summer of ghost stories) and Dundee in 1812, when a 15-year-old Mary is sent away by her father to live with the Baxter family. Eekhout provides an incredibly detailed, atmospheric description of industrialising Dundee. The novel portrays Mary finding a sense of radical mental freedom on the banks of the River Tay. It focuses heavily on her intense, boundary-pushing friendship with Isabella Baxter, showing how they invented dark, fantastical stories while exploring the local Scottish landscape—acts of youthful imagination that directly planted the seeds for Frankenstein.

Monstrous Bodies (2017) by Sandy Thomson

A bold, feminist theatrical production co-produced by the Poorboy Ensemble and the renowned Dundee Rep Theatre. The play uses a dual-timeline structure to show that the struggles of young women across centuries remain strikingly similar. The play contrasts the real-life historical figure of 14-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin navigating her exile in the strict, religious atmosphere of Dundee with the life of a modern-day 21st-century Dundee teenager. It vividly dramatises local spaces like The Howff (Dundee's historic 16th-century cemetery) and shows how Mary used the “monstrous” folklore of Scotland to cope with her own fractured sense of self and family.

Unfashioned Creatures (2013) by Lesley McDowell

This historical novel shifts the spotlight to Isabella Baxter Booth, Mary's closest childhood companion from her time in Scotland. It explores the dark, complicated web of mental illness, jealousy, and literary ambition within the radical intellectual circles of early 19th-century Scotland. Set predominantly in Dundee and the surrounding areas, the book provides a gritty, deeply researched look at the Baxter family’s domestic life. It examines the massive psychological fallout of Mary’s brief residence, tracking how her brilliant, unsettling presence disrupted the local community and changed Isabella’s life forever, even after Mary eloped with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.