Haunted Facts About Claire Clairmont, The Hopeless Romantic
Mary Shelley may have written the book Frankenstein, but it was her stepsister Claire Clairmont who spent her lifetime battling horrible monsters.
1. She Was The Glue
Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Shelley all went down in history as great writers—but it was the lesser-known Claire Clairmont who was the glue that held them all together. This quartet of authors was into travel, horror stories and free love, which led to constant bed-hopping—and serious melodrama. Sadly, Clairmont always seemed to always get the short end of the stick.
She would, however, eventually get her revenge from beyond the grave.
2. She Didn’t Know Him
Claire Clairmont, born in 1798 in Brislington, England, had a childhood like a Gothic novel. She knew who her mother was—but what she didn’t know for sure was the identity of her father. Mom said it was a guy called Charles Clairmont, but the man was like a ghost who never appeared.
When mom got pregnant again, Clairmont must’ve assumed the ghost had eerily returned. There was no ghost—but instead, a man who’d change Clairmont’s life in a very big way.
3. She Had A New Dad
Clairmont’s mom was single and dealing with two children, and had another on the way. This time the dad was no mystery. It was writer William Godwin, who actually lived right next door. But he came with baggage. He had a daughther of his own when he married Clairmont’s mother. There were now four children in this unorthodox household, and not a single one of them had the same two parents.
Clairmont got a stepsister in the deal who was about the same age. She’d either just met her best friend—or her worst enemy.
4. She Was The Favorite
Clairmont’s mom didn’t hide the fact that she preferred her own daughter to her stepchildren. In fact, she sent Clairmont to a fancy boarding school while her stepdaughter, Mary Godwin, just got her education home. This sounds like a recipe for a nasty sibling rivalry—but nope, it was a friendship that would last for decades.
It would also, however, inspire a whole lotta drama.
