Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

I feel like that victory song from Rocky should be playing right now, because I FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK. This mammoth, which I started almost a year ago, is the frontrunner for best book of 2020 and is likely to stay there. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I recently rave-reviewed Alexis Coe's biography, You Never Forget Your First, because it was a female authored biography that humanized the people it studied. I love Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley for the same reasons. Charlotte Gordon took two women who I was semi-interested in and made me obsessed. I've lost count of the number of people I've told about this book - people who have probably never picked up a biography before, but hopefully will when I'm done gushing about it! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Told in chapters which alternate between Wollstonecraft and her daughter Shelly (to highlight the parallels in their lives), this biography is not only incredibly researched, but beautifully written. Gordon wields words like a scalpel, cutting open the beating hearts of these incredible women and revealing both their brilliance and their vulnerabilities. It's also unexpectedly funny - reading Gordon's commentary was like talking to a friend in the best way possible. My copy of this book (yes, I did return the library copy and buy my own) is full to the brim with underlines and annotations.
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As excited as I am to finally be able to share my thoughts on this book, I'm also sad, because being able to reach for this book throughout the year felt like picking up where I left off with old friends. If it's not clear to you by now, know this: if you're going to read one badass, feminist, hilarious, heartbreaking biography in your life, this is the one.
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Please be aware that this biography contains content which is traumatic. I have tried to include as many trigger and content warnings as I can think of: suicide, suicidal ideation, depression, rape, domestic violence, loss of a parent, loss of a child.