Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, narrates almost half of Frankissstein: A Love Story. Her portion of the narrative, set in the 19th century, follows her inspiration and process of writing her famous novel and its publication. Mary Shelley also tells the story of how she met and ran away with her poet husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, their financial troubles and Percy Shelley's eventual death at a young age. Throughout the novel, Mary Shelley struggles with Percy Shelley's affairs and grief over having lost several children either shortly after they are born or as stillbirths. Mary Shelley is young and naïve when she runs away with Percy Shelley, who was married, but as reality sets in she reflects on how she and all women are still subject to rigidly defined gender roles and discrimination. In the novel, Mary Shelley acts as a 19th century feminist whose...