With her second published novel, Mary Shelley crafted an historical novel based on Dante, Boccaccio, and Machiavelli, and in so doing she took on works by Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Find out all about Valperga: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca.

Source:

Shelley, Mary. Valperga. Michael Rossington, ed. Oxford: Oxford World Classics, 2000.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0606801h.html

http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/mschronology/reviews/valpbw.html