Kiersten White

Porywający i mroczny retelling „Frankensteina”, który przyprawi cię o dreszcze. Co to znaczy być potworem? Elizabeth Lavenza jest skazana na marne życie. Bita i poniżana przez swoją opiekunkę, spędza dzieciństwo w skrajnej biedzie. Do dnia, w którym zostaje sprzedana rodzinie Frankensteinów. Ma jedno zadanie – być wierną przyjaciółką Victora Frankensteina, samotnego, niestabilnego emocjonalnie chłopca. Mała Elizabeth wie, że musi zrobić wszystko, żeby zapewnić mu rozrywkę – to jej najlepsza szansa na ucieczkę od nędzy. Wszystko jednak ma swoją cenę. Z upływem lat niebezpieczny temperament Victora coraz bardziej ją niepokoi. Gdy chłopak wyjeżdża na studia i nie daje znaku życia, Elizabeth obawia się, że nie jest już potrzebna rodzinie, i postanawia go odnaleźć. Nie wie jeszcze, że to początek mrożącej krew w żyłach podróży do odkrycia mrocznej i szokującej prawdy o jej przyjacielu.

Mroczne dzieje Elizabeth Frankenstein

Amanda Autumn Berrey

AUTHOR’S NOTE Two hundred years ago, a teenage girl sat down and created science fiction. She did it on a dare. The coolest thing I ever did on a dare was ask my now-husband out. Which, granted, changed my world. Mary Shelley? Changed the whole world. Rarely does a story come along that reshapes the public imagination in such a startling and notable way. The fact that we are still talking about Frankenstein, studying it, remaking it, speaks volumes to the questions Mary Shelley asked. Because it isn’t the answers in stories that are interesting—it’s the questions. When I sat down to write a retelling of a book that has meant so much to me, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to start. I knew I wanted a female protagonist, but beyond that, I needed direction. I needed my questions. I found them in Mary Shelley’s own introduction to the book. In it, she deflects focus from herself, talking about her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, instead. “My husband,” she said, “was from the first, very anxious that I should prove myself worthy of my parentage, and enroll myself on the page of fame….At this time he desired that I should write, not so much with the idea that I could produce any thing worthy of notice, but that he might himself judge how far I possessed the promise of better things hereafter.” And then in the preface, the only part of the book written by him, Percy makes certain to note that if people knew Lord Byron was writing at the same time Frankenstein was drafted, they would certainly prefer his work. Mary Shelley adored her husband. She kept his heart wrapped in a sheet of his poetry in her desk until she died. But that passage made me want to break something. Frankenstein wouldn’t exist without Lord Byron and Percy Shelley’s challenge—or Percy Shelley’s encouragement to Mary Shelley to keep writing. But the genius was all Mary’s. Still, at publication, for decades after, even today, people gave all credit to the men around her. After all, how could a girl—a teenage girl—accomplish something so great? So my questions began to take shape. How much of who we are is shaped by those around us? What happens when everything we are depends on someone else? And, as always: Where are the girls? Even Mary’s wild and expansive imagination could not put a girl at the forefront of this story. They’re relegated to the background, mere caricatures. And that was where I found my story. With a girl given to a boy as a gift. With a girl whose whole life revolves around the brilliant boy she loves. With a girl who inadvertently helps create a monster. With a teenage girl, because, as Mary Shelley proved, nothing is more brilliant or terrifying than that.

Mroczne dzieje Elizabeth Frankenstein quotes

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