The Vampyre Family by Andrew McConnell Stott

Halfway through the book, there's a quote from Samuel Johnson: ‘The best advice to authors would be, that they should keep out of the way of one another.’ To say The Vampyre Family bears out this dictum is putting it lightly indeed.

In the summer of 1816, a group of authors – Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori – came to the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva. Stott’s group biography covers the build-up to and aftermath of their stay, paying particular attention to the group’s lesser and lesser-known members, John and Claire. The former, who also served as the group's doctor, is best remembered for writing The Vampyre, an influential if creaky gothic novel, while the latter, Mary's half-sister, had her astonishing precocity arrested and her life ruined by a maniacal devotion to Byron, who fathered her child but couldn't have cared less.

It's a meticulously researched book, but for the most part it wears its research lightly. The narrative is brisk, vivid and sinuous, skilfully taking in the larger Romantic milieu while sticking close to the fiery interactions of the principal characters – and with his loving focus on hitherto sidelined figures, Stott manages to illuminate and revivify a brief moment in history that's been all but written-out. [Kristian Doyle]