Mary Shelley - Life after Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mary Shelley's return to England

After Percy Bysshe Shelley’s death, Mary Shelley returned to England with their son Percy. Although she had very little money, she refused to give Percy into the care of Shelley’s wealthy family, with whom she was on bad terms. On her small and unreliable literary income, she was able to send her son to a public school and then to Cambridge University. Percy eventually became the heir to his grandfather’s fortune and title, to which he succeeded in 1844, thus making his mother financially secure.

Mary Shelley's later work

Mary continued to write, publishing several more novels, travel books, plays and biographies. She also worked hard to preserve Shelley’s reputation, producing editions of his poetry, letters and other works (1839), but she never completed her projected biography of her husband. She died in London when she was 53.

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