Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. Her novels include Valperga (1823), Perkin Warbeck (1830), The Last Man (1826), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837).
Books
If you’re looking for a way to connect with other literature lovers and find new sustenance in your bookshelves—like we are—we invite you to join our virtual book club, Restless Reads.
Let’s read Frankenstein, a story that’s familiar and yet endlessly strange, with an origin story practically ripped from the headlines of 2020: overwhelming natural phenomena, global disaster, social distancing.
by Mary Shelley
Introduction by Francine Prose
Illustrations by Eko
Video Lecture Series by Wendy Steiner
Restless Classics
With a new introduction by Francine Prose and stunning original artwork by Eko, the Restless Classics edition of Frankenstein brings Mary Shelley’s paragon of horror vividly back to life—published to coincide with the two-hundredth anniversary of the infamous night of its creation.
Deluxe Paperback • ISBN: 9781632060785
Publication date: June 14, 2016