London - A long-lost children's story by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley has been found in a private library in Italy where it has lain unnoticed for more than 150 years, the London Times reports. The story, entitled Maurice, or the Fisher's Cot, consists of 39 pages in Mary Shelley's handwriting. The story, set on the Devon coast near Torquay, is dated 1820 and was found in a wooden chest in a box room by Ms Cristina Dazzi and her husband Andrea, who is descended from an Italian friend of Shelley's.
Written two years after publication of Frankenstein the story is a morality tale about a boy who runs away from his parents, is adopted by an old fisherman and lives in a cottage on the coast. The manuscript has been authenticated by two experts: Claire Tomalin, an author who helped organise a new London exhibition devoted to Shelley; and Catherine Payling, curator of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome.