Mary Shelley was haunted by the idea of bringing the dead back to life. Her mother had died eleven days after she was born, and she longed to be reunited with Wollstonecraft. In 1815, her first child died, just a few days after she was born. Mary was only seventeen. In her diary, she recorded a poignant dream.
Sunday, March 19.—Dream that my little baby came to life again; that it had only been cold, and that we rubbed it before the fire, and it lived. Awake and find no baby.