Like most of Leighton's biographies of famous women, Shelley's Mary is marked by strong characterizations and accurately detailed historical background. Leighton has managed to convey the spirit of Mary Shelley without compromising objective detail. She manages to include enough dialogue and description to give this biography the feel of a novel, although the reader has the sense of always being anchored in reality. If anything, Leighton's sympathetic attitude causes her to overpraise Mary.

Leighton offers insightful suggestions for interpretations of Mary Shelley's works, drawing parallels between Mary's life and her literature, especially Frankenstein. For example, Leighton suggests that although Mary outwardly declares her loyalty to her father and even dedicates Frankenstein to him, the disastrous effects of Victor Frankenstein's radical experiments in the novel reproach Godwin's impersonal, rational attitude to human relationships. In Leighton's biography, Mary expresses her personal feelings through her fiction, and only in...