Focus on Frankenstein: Author Biography

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)

by Richard Rothwell
​oil on canvas, exhibited 1840
© National Portrait Gallery, London

"I busied myself to think of a story...One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror."
—Mary Shelley, from the introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein

Find out more about the life of Mary Shelley and how she came to write Frankenstein, featuring writer Philip Hoare and Mary Shelley biographer, Daisy Hay.