Between 1819 and 1820, Mary Shelley wrote Matilda, her second novel following the classic Frankenstein. The story is reminiscent of Shelley's own life, if not outright autobiographical, with characters resembling herself, her husband Percy Shelley, and her father William Godwin. Matilda is an often overlooked literary gem written in the classic Romantic style with Matilda on her deathbed telling her tale full of loss, incest, and suicide.