Frankenstein's Bride

Set in London in 1825, this labored riff on Mary Shelley's horror masterpiece shows the potential pitfalls authors face when writing sequels that take liberties with the plots of literary classics. Jonathan Goodall, a wealthy young Englishman, meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein but knows nothing of the man's infamous past. Then Victor begins to take a passionate interest in Maria Clementi, a music hall singer strangely incapable of speech outside of her stage performances. As Victor labors obsessively to cure Maria's muteness, an unknown assailant launches attacks on him and his family. By keeping the revelations about Victor's experiments in reanimating the dead concealed until the end, Bailey (Cassandra ) prolongs the tale's mystery, but at the cost of diminishing the story of the doctor's scientific transgression and its consequences. The full text of Frankenstein , reprinted after Bailey's novel, serves only to show the unique brilliance of Shelley's fantastic novel. (Oct.)