Young Romantics – Daisy Hay

Daisy Hay shatters the myth of the Romantic poet as a solitary, introspective genius in this compelling, revelatory group biography. The fiery, generous spirit of Leigh Hunt bound together a tightly-knit group that included the restless Shelley, his brilliant wife Mary and her feisty step-sister Claire Clairmont, who became Byron’s lover and the mother of his child. The turmoil of stained relationships and insular friendships would ferment to inspire the drama of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the heady idealism of Shelley’s poetry, and Byron’s own self-loathing, self-loving public persona. Charting their triumphs, losses and tragedies, Young Romantics weaves together the stories of an extraordinary circle of friends.