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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can friendship hold together when a plague threatens to take the whole human world apart?
In Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, England is a republic and the future seems secure. Lionel Verney grows up poor and angry, until friendship changes his life. Gentle Adrian, the son of the last king, opens a new world to him. Brilliant Lord Raymond brings charm, restless ambition, and the hunger for power.
Lionel finds love with Adrian’s sister Idris, and their home near Windsor offers warmth and belonging. Around them, love and politics pull friends in different directions. Then a plague crosses borders and seas. As human plans give way, Shelley explores what people mean to one another when neither power nor hope can keep them safe.
What you’ll discover
- A life changed by friendship Follow Lionel from the wild hills into bonds that reshape his life.
- Charm with a restless heart Meet Lord Raymond, whose ambition and old loves unsettle the people around him.
- Warmth before the darkness Enter Lionel and Idris’s family world, where happiness has something concrete to lose.
- Nature beyond human control Face a plague that pays no heed to borders, political power, or human plans.
- Grief on a vast scale Discover an early science fiction novel that brings humanity’s threatened end close to one heart.
Who will love it
Readers who love grand, emotional novels, lifelong friendships and early science fiction will enjoy this book. It also appeals to admirers of Romantic poetry and to those curious about what the author of Frankenstein wrote next.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lonely voice remembers human life
- Kindness gives Lionel another way
- Love outweighs the promise of power
- Restlessness threatens a happy home
- Courage cannot defeat every enemy
- Leadership means caring for people
- Disaster strips rank of its meaning
- Home holds what still matters
- Human limits reveal the value of love
Who’s who
- Lionel VerneyA wild shepherd boy turned scholar, he narrates the tale and loves Adrian and Idris above all else.
- Adrian, Earl of WindsorThe gentle, idealistic son of the last king, he dreams of a better England and gives his friend an education.
- PerditaLionel's solitary, intense sister, she loves Raymond completely and cannot bear to share his heart.
- Lord RaymondA brilliant war hero and politician, he is torn between love and the pull of power and glory.
- IdrisAdrian's sister, open and brave, she defies her mother to marry Lionel and shelters her children.
- EvadneA proud Greek princess who once refused Adrian's love, she lives in poverty and clings to her pride.
- The Countess of WindsorThe former queen of England, she fights to restore her family's glory and cannot forgive disobedience.
- ClaraRaymond and Perdita's daughter, she grows into a gentle, serious young woman who cares for those around her.
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The Last Man
by Mary Shelley · 1826
A shepherd boy, a prince and a plague meet in a future England where one man may outlive everyone.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What if you woke one day and found you were the only person left alive? In The Last Man, Mary Shelley asks that question and sets it in the years around 2100, in an England that has become a republic and then a graveyard.
The Last Man at a glance
- Reading time
- About 11 h 40 min9 h 15 min fast, 13 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 167,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1826by Mary Shelley
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An orphan shepherd learns to hate a king
Lionel Verney's father was a charming, reckless favorite of the last king of England. He gambled away every gift and vanished into the hills of Cumberland in disgrace. He died in debt, with a last letter to the king that never got an answer.
Lionel is five when his mother dies. He and his younger sister Perdita become paupers, treated as peasants. Lionel grows up herding sheep, poaching game and leading a band of friendless boys. He lives by one law, the law of the strongest. Perdita is his opposite. She hides in the woods, floating bark boats down brooks and dreaming.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1826
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 12 h 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Shelley, Mary. The Last Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-man.
Shelley, M. (2026). The last man. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-man (Original work published 1826)
Shelley, Mary. The Last Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-man.
@book{shelley2026last,
author = {Shelley, Mary},
title = {The Last Man},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-man},
note = {First published 1826}
}
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What is The Last Man about?
It follows Lionel Verney and his circle of friends in a future England around 2100. A deadly plague spreads across the world, and the story traces how love, friendship and ambition hold up as humanity dwindles toward its end.
Who is Adrian in The Last Man?
Adrian is the Earl of Windsor, the son of England's last king. Gentle, brilliant and idealistic, he befriends the shepherd boy Lionel, educates him and later leads the survivors during the plague.
Is The Last Man based on real people?
Many readers see Shelley's friends in the characters. Adrian is often read as a portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Raymond as one of Lord Byron. The book itself never states this, and the story is fiction.
The author
Mary Shelley
1797–1851 · English Gothic novelist
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English writer born in London in 1797. She lived in England and Italy and married the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816. She wrote Frankenstein, published in 1818, and The Last Man, published in 1826. She died in London in 1851.
More by Mary Shelley
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