Mathilda (1959) is the second long piece of fiction written by English writer Mary Shelley (1797-1851). It was written between 1819 & 1820 and published posthumously.

In Mathilda, Shelley deals with the topics of incest – a father’s incestuous love of his daughter which some consider autobiographical - and suicide.

The narrator is a young woman in her 20s, Mathilde who writes her story, which includes the confession of her father’s incestuous love for her. The father subsequently drowns himself.

Mathilde had grown up with an aunt. Her mother died shortly after her birth and her father left a month later. Mathilde didn’t see her father again until she was 16.