William Godwin Jun. (March 28, 1803-September 9, 1832), who died from cholera aged 29, was William Godwin's only son. He left a curious, inspired, and promising novel with a queer title, The Orphans of Unwalden, or the Soul's Transfusion, posthumously published in 1835 (possibly under Mary Shelley's tuition) as a "three-decker" by Macrone, and reprinted in Paris on the same year, as part of Baudry's European Library. Quite a forgotten book indeed, which had never received its due, and even elicited an undeserved, derogatory comment from a Mary Shelley biographer ("no amount of editing could disguise its mediocrity", Miranda Seymour, Mary Shelley, 2001, repr. 2018, p. 424). A perceptive study was recently published, fortunately rescuing the novel from oblivion, and rightfully stating that "it open[ed] us opportunities for significant further work on this writing family" (Beatrice Turner, "[We] had not the ties of blood to unite us", N.C.L. vol 71, No. 4, March 2017, p. 457-484). Hail!
