Mathilda

Mathilda is a novella written by Mary Shelley in 1819, following the deaths of two of her children. Suppressed by her father William Godwin, it was not published until 1959. The story follows a young woman who discovers her widowed father's incestuous obsession with her — a dark confession that leads to his suicide and her own descent into grief and isolation. A powerful exploration of forbidden desire, loss, and the search for human connection, Mathilda is now recognized as one of Shelley's most psychologically penetrating works.