Mary Shelley

She was born in 1797.

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Her parents were both famous writers and thinkers.

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But her mother died soon after Mary was born. She didn’t like her new stepmother.

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Mary never went to school. But she did read all the books in her father’s library, and met lots of other writers.

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When Mary was 17, she fell in love with the poet Percy Shelley. They ran away and had a baby, but it died soon after it was born.

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Writing Frankenstein

Writing Frankenstein

“I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be…”

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Frankenstein

‘Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus’ was published in 1818. Mary Shelley was 20 years old. It was published anonymously.

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Prometheus

In Greek myth, Prometheus created humans. He then gave them fire, which Zeus told him not to do. As punishment, Prometheus was eaten by an eagle every day for the rest of his life, but could not die.

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Frankenstein was a popular book, but Mary Shelley had a sad life.

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Two more of her children died, and her husband Percy also died aged 29 when his boat sank in Italy.

Mary Shelley died in 1851. Frankenstein is still one of the most important novels ever written.