Wollstonecraft authored the groundbreaking book, 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,' published in 1792. And Shelley was always acutely aware of her mother's status as a feminist iconoclast.

Gordon, who referred to Shelley as the 'bad girl' of Gothic fiction, said that scholars also believe that she learned to read there, tracing the letters on her mother's headstone. It was a frequent destination for family outings. Wollstonecraft died 10 days after giving birth to her, and the grave was near the family home when Shelley was a small child. But when you learn more about Shelley's life, it starts to make sense. The idea that the couple had sex for the first time at her mother's resting place may sound farfetched at first. But they always referred to that day as his birthday.'

'According to a letter Percy wrote, it’s there she declared her love for him,' Gordon said in a phone interview. But Mary Shelley's biographers know that something significant between the couple happened there.Ĭharlotte Gordon, author of ' Romantic Outlaws,' a book about the lives of Mary Shelley and her mother, a literary and cultural giant in her own right, said that it's 'traditionally accepted' among Shelley scholars that the romantic pair consummated their relationship at the grave of Wollstonecraft at Saint Pancras church in London. It may never be possible to ascertain for certain whether Mary Shelley (nee Godwin) actually had sex with her husband-to-be, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, on or near her mother's grave.

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