Although the monster stitched together from body parts is one of pop culture’s most recognisable icons, the woman who brought it to life often remains in the shadow of her work. Mary Shelley was not a typical Victorian lady. Her life reads like a gothic tale full of rebellion, romances, travel, and painful losses. For contemporary authors and publishers, Shelley’s story is proof that great literature is born from authentic emotions and the courage to break the mould.
Here are eight facts from Mary Shelley’s life that shed new light on the creative process of one of history’s most important novels.
1. “Frankenstein” was born from a bet during the “Year Without a Summer”
Legend has it that the idea for the novel arose under unusual circumstances. In 1816, Mary, her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their son travelled to Switzerland to spend time with Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati. The weather was however atrocious – due to the eruption of Mount Tambora, that year became known as the “Year Without a Summer”. Torrential rains and a gloomy aura trapped the company indoors.
To kill time, Lord Byron proposed a contest to write the best ghost story. It was then, inspired by late-night conversations about the nature of life and the experiments of Erasmus Darwin, that Mary had a vision of a “pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together”. Thus, the outline of “Frankenstein” was born.
2. She was just 19 when she started writing her masterpiece
Contemporary debutants often feel they must wait a lifetime to write their magnum opus. Mary Shelley proves otherwise. When she began sketching the story of Victor Frankenstein, she was a teenager.
The novel was completed when the author was 20 and published (anonymously) when she turned 21. The emotional maturity and philosophical depth of this book continue to astonish critics today, given the author’s age.
3. Learning to write in a graveyard
Mary’s education was unconventional, even by the standards of the time. As the daughter of the prominent feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (who died shortly after giving birth) and the philosopher William Godwin, she grew up in an atmosphere of intellectual ferment.
However, the most vivid detail from her childhood is where she learned her letters. Little Mary often escaped to St Pancras Old Churchyard in London. It was there, tracing the inscriptions on her own mother’s tombstone with her finger, that she learned to form her first letters and read. This early communion with death and ancestral memory heavily influenced her later gothic sensibility.
4. The godmother of science fiction
Although “Frankenstein” is often pigeonholed as horror or a gothic novel, literary scholars agree: Mary Shelley created the first science fiction novel in history.
The key difference lies in the mechanism of bringing the monster to life. Earlier tales relied on magic, curses, or the intervention of supernatural forces. Shelley based her plot on the science of the time – galvanism and electricity. Technology and experiment, not sorcery, were the driving force, marking a definitive turn towards science fiction.
5. A life marked by a streak of tragedy
The darkness spilling from the pages of her novel was not merely a literary creation. The writer’s private life was filled with suffering. Mary buried three of her four children, which drove her into deep depression.
The sense of loss, loneliness, and rejection so suggestively described by Frankenstein’s monster was a direct reflection of the author’s emotional states. The creature, yearning for acceptance but meeting with fear, is a metaphor for the alienation Shelley experienced after running away from home with the then-married Percy Shelley.
6. A macabre keepsake in the desk
Mary and Percy Shelley’s relationship was turbulent and ended tragically. The poet drowned during a storm in Italy in 1822, at the age of just 29. His body was cremated on the beach, in accordance with quarantine regulations, but – as legend has it – his heart did not burn.
Mary Shelley kept this organ. For years, she stored her husband’s charred heart, wrapped in silk and one of his poems (some sources say pages from “Adonais”), in a drawer of her desk. This story sounds like something straight out of her books and shows how intertwined the writer’s life was with the Romantic cult of death.
7. A prophetic vision in “The Last Man”
Mary Shelley is not the author of just one novel. Her body of work is much broader, and “The Last Man”, published in 1826, deserves special attention.
It is one of the first post-apocalyptic novels in history. The action takes place at the end of the 21st century, when humanity is decimated by a plague. The protagonist, Lionel Verney, witnesses the collapse of civilisation, ultimately becoming the titular last man on Earth, wandering a depopulated world. This vision, extremely depressing and innovative, has only been fully appreciated by modern readers.
8. Editorial cooperation or dominance?
For years, the role of Percy Shelley in the creation of “Frankenstein” was debated. It is known that Mary’s husband edited the manuscript, making stylistic corrections and suggesting changes to more sophisticated vocabulary.
Some 19th-century critics even suggested that he was the true author of the work. However, analysis of the manuscripts that have survived to this day unequivocally confirms Mary’s authorship. Percy’s contribution was limited to the role of an editor who supported (though sometimes too zealously) his talented wife. This is a valuable lesson for modern self-publishers on how important, yet delicate, the relationship between author and editor is.
BONUS: A dream fulfilled after years
Finally, a treat for all lovers of cinema and literature. The long-awaited adaptation of “Frankenstein”, directed by horror cinema visionary Guillermo del Toro, has just appeared on Netflix.
Interestingly, creating this film was the director’s dream since childhood. Del Toro has repeatedly mentioned in interviews that as a boy he identified with the monster, not its creator, which promises a completely new, deeply humanistic perspective in the film. The cast includes Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster. This is an excellent opportunity to check, after reading the original, how the Mexican master has interpreted Mary Shelley’s fears and hopes in contemporary cinema.
Mary Shelley’s story is proof that the best stories emerge at the intersection of talent, hard work, and life experience. Her legacy at Books Factory is treated as inspiration to care for every printed word.