He lived where I could see him,
close enough to haunt,
too far to touch.
I spent years calling that distance impossible.
Then I learned impossible things sometimes wait.
— Mary Shelley

She wrote the world’s most famous warning about bringing back the dead.
Six years later, she is given the chance to ignore it.

Lake Geneva, 1816.
Mary Godwin arrives at Villa Diodati surrounded by brilliant men and increasingly certain that none of them truly see her.

Percy is restless. Byron has his own secrets. Claire is hopelessly entangled with the infamous lord upstairs. Polidori watches everyone as though someday he intends to write it all down.
And somewhere inside the Villa, a stranger tells Mary a story she cannot forget.

Gabriel Diodati is a physician, a storyteller, and a man who seems to know far too much about the house that bears his name. He speaks of forbidden experiments, impossible bargains, and a doctor who once tried to save the woman he loved from death.
That night, Mary dreams of a scientist kneeling beside something he should never have brought to life.

Frankenstein is born.
Gabriel disappears.
And Mary chooses Percy, leaves Geneva, and spends the next six years trying to build the life she believed she wanted.

Then Percy drowns.
His body burns.
His heart does not.
And when Mary brings that impossible relic home, the mirrors begin answering her.

At first, she thinks Percy has found a way back.
Instead, Gabriel Diodati steps out of the glass.

THE SAGA OPENS SEPTEMBER 17, 2026.
BOOK TWO ARRIVES OCTOBER 15, 2026.
BOOK THREE ARRIVES OCTOBER 31, 2026.

BOOKS FOUR, FIVE, AND SIX ARRIVE SEPTEMBER 2027.

Author’s Note

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was real.

Her life, her relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley, the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva, the creation of Frankenstein, her years in Italy, and the grief that followed Percy’s death all belong to history.
This novel does not attempt to rewrite that history as fact. It takes the known life of Mary Shelley and imagines what might have existed in the spaces history could never record.

Gabriel Diodati-Mestrezat was a real historical figure associated with the origins of Villa Diodati, which was built for him in the early eighteenth century. In this novel, his life is reimagined through the supernatural mythology of The Cursed Poets. His bargain with Lilith, his connection to the mirrors, his role as guardian of the Villa, and his relationship with Mary Shelley are fictional elements created for this story.

The opening verse attributed to Mary in this novel is an original work of fiction written by me, inspired by her life, imagination, grief, and literary legacy. It is not a lost, recovered, or previously unpublished poem or journal entry by Mary Shelley. Any other fictional verses, letters, or passages attributed to Mary within the novel are likewise original works created for this story. Genuine quotations from Mary Shelley’s published writing, journals, or letters remain her own work.

Historical figures including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont, John Polidori, and others appear throughout the novel. Historical places, dates, events, writings, and details are sometimes represented faithfully and sometimes adapted to serve the fictional story.

Where history ends, the glass begins.

Cara Ravelli

*THE OPENING VERSE ATTRIBUTED TO Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley IN THIS NOVEL IS AN ORIGINAL WORK OF FICTION WRITTEN BY ME, INSPIRED BY MARY SHELLEY’S LIFE, THEMES, AND LITERARY LEGACY. IT IS NOT A LOST, RECOVERED, OR PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED POEM BY Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.