Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

Death: 1st February 1851
Location: St. Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth, Dorset, England
Cause of Death: Cancer - Brain
Photo taken by: DeadGoodBooks
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English novelist who is best remembered as the author of Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus. She was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, her mother was the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and her father, William Godwin was an anarchist philosopher.
In 1814, when Mary was sixteen, she eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley who was still married at the time. In 1816 they traveled to Lake Geneva to stay with a group of intellectuals and writers. During their stay they had a ghost-story writing contest during which John Polidori came up with The Vampyre and Mary came up with the idea for Frankenstein.
In October 1816 Mary and Percy were married. In 1822 Percy was drowned at sea and Mary devoted herself to the editing and promotion of her late husband’s work. Mary also wrote several more novels including The Last Man, a pioneering work of science fiction which is considered by some to be her best work.

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