‘If I cannot inspire love, then I will cause fear!’ - Mary Shelley

Ok, so I know I strayed a little off track last week, but please forgive me my flaws.  This week you might be happy to know, I’m visiting what some refer to as, the horror genre, and getting in touch with my parental instincts at the same time.  If you have a thirst for rich gothic style as I do, then our subject will satisfy.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born on the 30^th of August 1797 in Somers Town London. Of course, we know her as Mary Shelley. There was no formal education for Shelley, she was merely taken on educational outings by her father, and had access to his library and was an avid reader.

Mary fell in love with the already married Percy Bysshe Shelley, and against her father’s wishes, the couple ran off together.  They travelled around Europe, but it was in Geneva that Mary Shelley got the idea for her most famous novel Frankenstein while sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories.

87 Marchmont St London

I must admit that when I was growing up, I thought that Frankenstein was the name of the hideous monster, but after reading the book, I discovered that it was the name of the doctor and not his wretched creature.  But which one is the true fiend? It has been said that Frankenstein’s monster is the result of what might happen when a man tries to have a baby without a woman and of course, a little radical thinking.

A gift from my son Warren

This book is one of my all-time favourites and, unfortunately, the only one of her books I have read to date.  I have a beautiful copy that my son Warren bought for me. When I first read the story of Frankenstein, it didn’t have the same impact that it had all these years later.  Now I have children of my own, I understand the importance and love that goes into choosing a name and it saddens me to think that the character created by Mary Shelley and brought to life by the doctor, never really had that identity to relate to. If I were to rewrite Frankenstein, I would definitely name the creation.


Mary Shelley passed away in 1851 and is buried in Bournemouth at St Peters Church along with her parents. There’s so much more that I could tell you about her tragic life, but everything has to end eventually, contrary to which I say that, Once upon a time in the 1800’s Mary Shelley created a monster that  has been  continuously resurrected to live for ever.