Since my schooldays, I've always had a bit of a thing about Percy Bysshe Shelley. I loved his poetry and he seemed, even in the sketchy amount I'd gleaned about his life, to be a glamorous character. He, along with his friend, Lord Byron, were almost popstars of their day. In the recounting of the true story of Shelley's life and death, Richard Holmes strips away much of the glamour but, I'm happy to say, left me still liking the man despite discovering his feet of clay. A brief word about the author. Richard Holmes, was for several years professor of Biographical Studies at the University of East Anglia, and is not to be confused with the historian, ...  Read the complete review