Passion. Peril. Imposture. Shipwreck. Alchemy. Transformation. This is the stuff of Mary Shelley's richly Romantic stories. Set against varying backdrops of medieval chivalry, the wars and revolutions of her age, and grandiose scenes of nature, her tales mark a high point in the Gothic storytelling art. Long out of print, these stories are made available once again in a meticulously annotated and corrected softcover edition.

Most of Mary Shelley's short narratives were published in The Keepsake (1823-57), the most enduring and popular of the nineteenth-century annual gift books. The fine original engravings that accompany the stories are all reproduced in this new edition. Within the constraints of space and illustration imposed by The Keepsake, Robinson notes in his introduction, Mary Shelley produced some of her most intense and incandescent writing.