Frankenstein: Popular Penguins

Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851) had a childhood reminiscent of a dark fairy-tale. Her mother died in childbirth, and she was raised by a distant father and a step-mother who disliked her. Her step-sister suffered from depression and eventually took her own life. Mary found solace in books, often reading by her mother’s tomb.

In 1813, she met Percy Bysshe Shelley, a young but unhappily married man destined to become a great English poet. They fell in love and eloped, despite Mary’s youth. Her father, William Godwin, disowned her, but she and Shelley married in 1816. They settled in Italy, but tragedy struck. Only one of their four children lived long, and Shelley drowned in 1822 at the age of thirty.

Mary lived for another thirty years, but she never quite fulfilled the promise she showed during her time with her husband and his friends, like Lord Byron. Her most famous work came from her happier time in Italy. In 1817, Byron suggested they each write a horror story, leading Mary to create Frankenstein. This book, more than just a typical horror story, possesses a compelling storyline that is both moving and tragic. It is remarkable that a young woman of twenty penned the book whose name has become synonymous with horror.