SPECIAL AWARD
Writing Women Back into History
National Women's Political Caucus of Mendocino County
As part of Women's History Month, March, 2010

FINALIST
2009 Northern California Book Award in Fiction
Northern California Book Reviewers
Awards Ceremony, April 19, 2009
28th Annual Northern California Book Awards, San Francisco

WINNER FIRST PLACE GOLD
2008 Book of the Year Award for Historical Fiction
ForeWords Magazine
Awards Ceremony, May 29, 2009
BookExpo America, New York City

WINNER, FIRST PLACE
2008 “Indie” Book Award for Historical Fiction
Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group

FINALIST
2007 Fiction Award
San Francisco Writers Conference

SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL
2007 Chief Al Nelder Literary Prize
Komenar Publishing, San Francisco

FINALIST, 2ND PLACE
2004 Fiction Award
Mendocino Coast Writers Conference

Among "the Bay Area's best & the brightest"
—Sue Gilmore, San Jose Mercury News

Reading Molly Dwyer's excellent first novel
is like taking an extended and enjoyable vacation in
Great Britain with a really smart best friend. Literate
readers will find enjoyment on every page.
—John Lescroart, New York Times best-selling author

Requiem is brilliantly written.
I always enter a new novel hoping that it will be good.
This one surpassed my hopes. The story was excellent, the execution of the plot was riveting, and the writing impeccable. Wow… what an exciting read. I was so surprised at how very, very good it was.
—Justine Willis Toms, Co-founder,
New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network

What a beautifully crafted narrative
Dwyer has given us in Requiem. It is all the more absorbing for the perfect ease with which it swims back and forth across time and between its two — or are they two? — protagonists. A brilliant fictive exploration of the power and possibilities of the mother-line.
—Carol Lee Flinders, PhD. Author of At the Root of This Longing, Portraits of Women & Faith in Action

A story of love in its most passionate
and complex forms. With her brilliant prose, her historical erudition, and her rich imagination, Molly Dwyer opens up for us a surprising and revolutionary understanding—that the genius of Mary Shelley must henceforth be seen to occupy the highest of all strata in our literary canon. Only a Sister of Shakespeare could have written the masterpiece Frankenstein, and only another Sister could have recognized and so beautifully expressed the significance
of that achievement. Brilliant book!!!
—Dr. Brian Swimme. Author of The Universe Story,
The Universe is a Green Dragon

Dwyer pierces the human drama, bringing the greats
of another age alive and close, making them sensuously real. In resurrecting Shelley and her world, Dwyer transcends the constraints of time to offer not just excellent entertainment, but essential perspective on the power of words and story.
—Charlotte Gullick, Author of  By Way of Water,
winner of 2008 Christopher Isherwood Fellowship

Requiem is a marvel. Gothic romance, feminist history, philosophical mystery—it’s perfect for those of us who love to think as much as we love a good story. Molly Dwyer brings Mary Shelley and her circle so alive it makes me wonder if they ever died.
—Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest, Windfalls

Molly Dwyer’s remarkable first novel
tells the story of May Shelley. Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein has been enthusiastically reviewed for its scholarship, its provocative theories of communication between this world and the next, its compelling creation of the intimate relationships and stimulating conversations between the some of the greatest creative geniuses in English literature, as well as for its engaging plot—mystery, secrets, intrigue and action.…
—Krish Welsh, Living Room, KPFA radio, Berkeley, CA

Haven’t enjoyed a book so much since Possession.
In its complexity, its rich character development, its smashing description, it just doesn’t have rival out there today. When Shelley and Byron, Godwin and Coleridge converse, Dwyer’s great gift is evident. Brilliant, just brilliant.
—Suzanne Hartman Byerley, Founding director,
Mendocino Coast Writers Conference

There's a book holding me in thrall this week.
It's local author Molly Dwyer's novel, Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein: a big, ambitious, remarkably literate and deeply researched novel... that's also a genuinely scary and romantic ghost story. I'm not done yet, so don't tell me what happens.
—Christie Olson-Day, Owner, Gallery Books, Mendocino

Molly Dwyer’s gently astonishing, debut novel
seduces the reader into a lush, lace-laden labyrinth of haunted corridors and secret chambers, slowly exposing the corroding edge between dream and reality. Her commitment to nineteenth century period detail exquisitely transports the soul of a feminist politic she shares with Mary Shelley as a revolutionary woman rising above desperate times. It’s a muscular book and I mean that in the
best way. Requiem is awesome: I found myself riding
a torrent through its pages.
—Antero Alli, independent filmmaker, author

Five Stars! In Requiem, author Molly Dwyer
has reanimated the life and loves of Mary Shelley in this incredibly addictive, dual time period novel. While Mary is penning her great works, Anna, in the 21st century is researching Mary’s life and experiencing realistic and primal dreams as Mary. The physical and psychic connection between the women culminates in a
profound and thoroughly satisfying conclusion.
—Diane Honeysett, Copperfield Books

The immensely talented Molly Dwyer writes
 not only from the heart, but from the soul. Her meticulous historical research and immersion in place bring all of her complex characters alive on the page. Both an incredible skill with the English language and a beautiful generosity of spirit are evident throughout this inspired first novel.
—Kristin Suratt, Women's Voices, KZYX, Mendocino Public Radio

I absolutely loved Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein! It is extremely well written, fully engaging, incredibly stimulating, trés smart, and profoundly spiritual all at once. What a coup! Dwyer deserves much success. I look forward to reading the sequels.
—Rod O'Neal, Ph.D., Connoisseur of 19th Century British Literature