Mary Shelley
AUTHOR

Mary Shelley

Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 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 and promoted 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. Mary Godwin's mother died when Mary was eleven days old; afterwards, Mary and her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, were reared by their father. When Mary was four, Godwin married his neighbour, Mary Jane Clairmont. Godwin provided his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his liberal political theories. In 1814, Mary Godwin began a romantic relationship with one of her father’s political followers, the married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, they left for France and travelled through Europe; upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816 after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet. 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. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53. Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish Percy Shelley's works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829–46) support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin.
Read more Read less
You're getting a free audiobook


You're getting a free audiobook.

$8.99 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Try Standard free

Frankenstein

Most popular
View Details
Frankenstein

Featured Listen

Frankenstein is widely considered one of the earliest and most influential works of science fiction. Written when Shelley was just 18 years old, the gothic tale explores themes of scientific hubris, the nature of humanity, and the consequences of creation. The novel has captivated readers for over 200 years and spawned countless adaptations across various forms of media.

 Read more

Featured Article: The top 100 classics of all time


Before we whipped out our old high school syllabi and dug deep into our libraries to start selecting contenders for this list, we first had to answer the question, "How do we define a classic?" The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might guess, though there’s a lot to be said for the old adage, "You know it when you see it" (or, in this case, hear it). Of course, most critically, each of our picks had to be fabulous in audio. So dust off your aspirational listening list—we have some amazing additions you don’t want to miss.

Featured Article The top 100 classics of all time

Best Sellers

Product List
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $19.07 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $24.40 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • The Ultimate Horror Collection: 60+ Novels and Stories from H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James, Bram Stoker, Henry J

    Sale price: $7.99 (74% off)

    Regular price: $30.31

    Sale ends in

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $19.07 Regular price:

  • The Ultimate Science Fiction Mega Collection: 24 of the Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time Audiobook By Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, E

    $32.95 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $16.07 or free with 30-day trial

    Pre-order: Try for $0.00
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $15.62 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein (AmazonClassics Edition) Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $20.52 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein (Spanish Edition) Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $5.37 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • The Greatest Female Writers Classics Collection Audiobook By Willa Cather, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell

    $31.58 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Everlasting Classics, Mary Shelley cover art

    $19.07 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $20.52 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $19.07 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $11.24 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein (The Original 1818 Unabridged and Complete Edition) Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $19.07 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • The Last Man Audiobook By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley cover art

    $31.58 Regular price:

  • The Last Man Audiobook By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley cover art

    $26.50 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • The British Classics Collection - Volume One: 20+ Stories from Charles Dickens, Emily Brontë, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy,

    $31.58 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Frankenstein Audiobook By Mary Shelley cover art

    $17.43 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Classic Tales Of Horror Audiobook By Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Henry James, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, W

    $20.52 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Visit Amazon Author Central