The author of the novel "Frankenstein" carried her late husband's heart with her for almost 30 years (4 photos)

My God, what do we know about true love? You could say that, if not for one thing.

The thing is, it wasn't some romantic image, but a real mummified heart. But first things first.





English writer Mary Shelley, who wrote the legendary Gothic novel Frankenstein, took the romantic poet Percy Shelley away from his family. This happened in 1814, long before she wrote her famous work.

The poet was so captivated by the girl that he abandoned his pregnant wife for the sake of the young beauty, and when two years later his wife committed suicide, unable to bear the betrayal, the couple happily married.



Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

But the happiness did not last long, Mary's children were either born prematurely or died in infancy. Only their fourth child, Percy Florence Shelley, survived.

In 1882, the husband, aged 29, was caught in a storm on his boat "Don Juan". The body was found only a few days later. At the family council, it was decided to cremate the remains, and the place for cremation was chosen to be the same beach where the deceased was found.

According to legend, during the event, friend and writer Edward John Trelawney noticed that the poet's heart had not burned, but simply hardened. Well, if that's the case, then you can't throw away the relic. At first, friends and relatives present at the cremation argued for a long time about who would get the organ, then they came to the conclusion that his wife, Mary, should keep it.





Romantic poet Percy Shelley

Although memoirists still argue whether it was the heart. Some are inclined to believe that the liver did not burn, saying that there was a lot of sea water in it, so the fire could not defeat it. But that is not the point.

Mary treated the piece of her husband's flesh so reverently that she carried it with her for almost 30 years, until her death in 1851. By the way, she never married again, but devoted herself to literary work and raising her son.



Only a year after her death, the mummified heart, wrapped in a piece of silk, was found in a special box in her desk drawer. In addition to the heart, there was a copy of Shelley's Adonais with one page torn out, a box containing the workbook they had written in together, and locks of hair from her deceased children, William and Clara.