Separated at Birth: Percy Bysshe Shelley and Susanna Moodie

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822.Susanna Moodie 1803-1885.Okay, so the birth dates are off, but only by 11 years, making Percy a year or two too young to father anyone. Don’t think he ever made it over to Canada, but stay tuned for more details on Moodie, chronicler of the quintessential Canadian experience, and her connection to Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Susanna was born in Bungay in Suffolk, England, the youngest sister in a family of writers  that included Agnes Strickland, Jane Margaret Strickland and Catharine Parr Traill. She wrote her first children's book in 1822, the year Percy Shelley drowned in a sudden storm while sailing in Italy.  Susanna was later involved in the Anti-Slavery Society, transcribing the narrative of former Caribbean slave Mary Prince.