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At a glance
Novella by Mary Shelley.
- Author
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley1797–1851
- First published
- 1959
- Original language
- English
- Genre
- Literary fiction
- Readers
- Adult
- Length
- Standard40,000 to 80,000 words
How long it takes to read
About 3 h 12 min at 250 words a minute, or 5 h 10 min as an audiobook.
| Reading speed | Whole book | At 30 minutes a day |
|---|---|---|
| Careful200 words a minute | 4 h | 9 days |
| Average250 words a minute | 3 h 12 min | 7 days |
| Fast300 words a minute | 2 h 40 min | 6 days |
Mathilda
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Compared with other books
The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.
Counted from the text
Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.
- Words in the text
- 48,019
- Chapters
- 11about 4,365 words each
- Dialogue
- 19%of the words are inside quotation marks
- Average sentence
- 28.9 words
- Vocabulary
- 440 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.
Where the numbers come from
The word count comes from the sources below.
- gutenberg.orgword count
- openlibrary.orgcover and record
- wikidata.orgdescription and author
The word count is Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text, which can include a preface or notes.
Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition. Cover from Open Library; the edition shown may differ.
Questions
How many words is Mathilda?
Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley has 48,019 words.
How long does it take to read Mathilda?
About 3 h 12 min at 250 words a minute, or 5 h 10 min as an audiobook.
How many days to read Mathilda at 30 minutes a day?
About 7 days at an average reading speed.
Who wrote Mathilda?
Mathilda was written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and first published in 1959.
Writing a book of your own?
Musael counts every chapter as you write, keeps the plan beside the draft and checks names and facts across the book.