Mary, Mary II

The novel, Frankenstein, bears little resemblance to the movies we’re familiar with. It raises ethical issues about the powers and responsibilities of science that our society continues to grapple with today. It was published anonymously in 1818 and was assumed to be the work of Percy Shelley. Mary wrote the book in 11 months after she and Percy spent an evening with Lord Byron reading ghost stories and Byron suggested that they each write their own ghost story.

Bio at http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_mary/

Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), English Romantic novelist, biographer and editor, best known as the writer of Frankenstein (1818). Mary Shelley was 21 when the book was published.

Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1797, in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who died in childbirth, was one of the first feminists. Her father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin.

In her childhood Mary Shelley was left to educate herself amongst her father's intellectual circle. She published her first poem at the age of ten. At the age of 16 she ran away to France and Switzerland with the poet Percy Shelley. They married in 1816 after Shelley's first wife had committed suicide by drowning. Their first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later. In the History Of Six Weeks' Tour (1817) the Shelleys jointly recorded their life. Thereafter they returned to England and Mary gave birth to a son, William.

In 1818 the Shelleys left England for Italy, where they remained until Shelley's death - he drowned in 1822 in the Bay of Spezia near Livorno. In 1819 Mary suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of William - she had also lost a daughter the previous year. In 1822 she had a dangerous miscarriage. Of their children only one, Percy Florence, survived infancy. In 1823 she returned with her son to England, determined not to-re-marry. She devoted herself to his welfare and education and continued her career as a professional writer…

Mary Shelley died in London on February 1, 1851, probably of a brain tumor.