On her deathbed, Mathilda writes a letter to her only friend, revealing the dark secret of her past, a secret so shameful, she can only manage it now because her time is running out. Written between 1819 and 1820, author Mary Shelley unfortunately never saw this novella published. Though he enjoyed the writing, her father, William Godwin, refused to return the manuscript to her after she asked him to get it published in England, because he found the theme "disgusting and detestable".