Manning and her husband raised their family in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. She has also written true crime articles for She began writing A Contrary Wind, her award-winning debut novel, while she was teaching English in China. Over the years, she has been a home care aide, legal secretary, political speech writer, office manager, vocational instructor, non-profit administrator and ESL Teacher. Lona Manning loves reading, choral singing, gardening and travel. Or maybe there is a kernel of truth to the story. Shelley might have been lying, (but what a weird tale for a grown man to tell his friends!).

LM: Shelley told Lord Byron that a beautiful, wealthy, high-born lady had fallen in love with him and trailed him around Europe. He represents the spirit of revolution, of the change and unrest that was bubbling in England at the time.īR: What first sparked the idea for Shelley and the Unknown Lady? But after I read Daisy Hay’s book, Young Romantics, I got the inspiration for including Shelley in my Mansfield Trilogy.

I knew the famous story of Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein during a cold, rainy summer in Geneva while she and Percy were staying with Lord Byron, but not much more. LM: The funny thing is, I’m not a big poetry buff and I was never really into the Romantics.

I can’t wait for the next one! I wholeheartedly recommend her books…” -Goodreads reviewerīR: What drew you to Percy Shelley and writing a book with him as a main character? “Manning’s books are… maniacally well-researched, gorgeously written, and wholly accurate in character. Here, Manning triumphs.” -Blue Ink Reviews “Many try to emulate Austen not all succeed. AVAILABLE ON AMAZON Praise for Lona Manning’s Writing This novella is a stand-alone story excerpted from Lona Manning’s Mansfield Trilogy. Shelley and the Unknown Lady is a carefully researched imagining of the true-life tragedy behind the mystery. When Shelley drowned at sea, he took his secrets with him.ĭid a beautiful, lovelorn lady really follow him throughout Europe, as he claimed? Did Mary Shelley ever learn about this rival for her affections? Romantic, idealistic and impulsive, Shelley had several intense love affairs. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s brief and turbulent life was as passionate and haunting as his poetry.

A Contrary Wind by Lona Manning