His Unburned Heart tells the story of Mary Shelley’s quest to retrieve her husband’s heart from his publisher. History tells us that Percy Shelley was cremated, though his heart failed to burn, but the rest of the details are lost to time. Sandner has channeled Mary Shelley herself to share the story with us. That story is paired here with a second, related, piece. The Journal of Sorrow is named after Mary Shelley’s personal journal, and imagines Percy Shelley’s demise.

“Sandner presents a tender examination on the nature of grief as a literary icon speculates on her lover's demise and the strange effort to recover the last physical remnant of her dead poet. Compelling and very moving prose.” --Tim McGregor, author of Wasps in the Ice Cream and Eynhallow

Historical Fiction