The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (Ebook)

A lost prince, a noble lie, a destiny written in doubt.

Mary Shelley’s The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck reimagines one of England’s great historical enigmas as a Romantic tragedy of identity, loyalty, and conscience. Set in the turbulent reign of Henry VII, the novel follows Perkin Warbeck—a young man who claims to be the lost Prince of York, rightful heir to the English throne. Torn between royal destiny and human tenderness, between the dream of honor and the ruin of ambition, Warbeck becomes Shelley’s most complex study of noble illusion. Through him, she transforms political history into moral drama: a meditation on truth, deception, and the shaping of the self under the gaze of power. Written with grandeur and empathy, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck fuses the historical novel with the psychological depth of Romanticism.

About the author

Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was an English novelist, essayist, and dramatist whose groundbreaking work, Frankenstein, established her as one of the most influential voices of Romantic and Gothic literature. The daughter of political philosopher William Godwin and feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley’s own life, marked by tragedy and resilience, deeply informed her writing. Her legacy endures as a testament to the power of imagination and the enduring relevance of her themes.