Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818, and it was published the same year. She was 18 when she wrote it, and it was her first novel. She began writing it in Switzerland, where she was traveling with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and his friend Lord Byron. The story was inspired by a dream Shelley had about a scientist who created a monster.
Frankenstein has been made into many movies over the years, including 1931’s Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as the monster. It’s also been adapted into many other media forms like comics, plays and musicals—and even a TV series! It’s been called the first science fiction novel because it imagines what would happen if scientists could create life from scratch—which they can’t yet do, but someday might be able to do!
Frankenstein is considered one of the most famous horror stories ever written because of how much people love it (and because of all those scary movies). Other famous horror stories include Dracula by Bram Stoker (1910), Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker (1897), The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (1843) and Salem.
