Another LitFic win…
“But the people who did get that love, they grew up to be different from us. More secure. Maybe theyre not as shiny or successful as you and I feel we have to be. But its not because theyre not interesting. They just dont feel they have to do the tap dance, you know? They dont have to prove themselves all the time to be loved. Because they always were.”
Summary - Cleopatra and Frankenstein centers on 24-year-old Cleo and 45-year-old Frank, two broken people who find one another in a passionate and loving fling. With secondary characters to bring diverse perspectives to the novels central themes, Mellors creates a glittery Manhattan world that looks pretty but is rotting from the inside.
Once I started, I couldn’t stop reading/listening. If you loved Hello Beautiful by Ann Napalitano or Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, you HAVE to read this book.
A few of the #read group who read Blue Sisters together and enjoyed it decided to read this one and I think I loved this one even more!
Have you read anyone by Coco Mellors? She’s definitely an auto-buy author for me now!
Find Cleopatra and Frankenstein at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
