Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus

Daughter of the philosopher William Godwin and feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Godwin eloped with her married lover Percy Shelley when she was only sixteen years old. Only a few years later - and after her marriage to Percy - Mary published a novel that would eventually win her worldwide renown. Entitled Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, the book was initially drafted for an impromptu ghost-story contest between the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and Byron's friend John Polidori. (Polidori's contribution was a short story entitled The Vampyre - one of the earliest entries in the vampire genre.)