Frankenstein inspired by suicide of Mary Shelley’s half-sister, book reveals

New collection of author’s diary entries provides tragic insight

Vanessa Thorpe

Sun 19 Jan 2025 06.00 GMT

Frankenstein’s monster, as horror fans know, did not really spark into life with a bolt of lightning, but was born inside the mind of Mary Shelleyduring a dreary holiday on a ­mountainside above Geneva. The inspiration came as volcanic ash clouds unexpectedly blocked out the sun that summer of 1816 and she and her friends, including the ­infamous, “bad boy” poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, ­competed to tell scary stories.

Mary Shelley / The life that inspired Frankestein

Mary Shelley (2017)

LA LIFE THAT INSPIRED FRANKESTEIN

The 100 best novels No 8 / Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) 

Mary Shelley by Muriel Spark – review

Sunday 10 June 2018

D: Haifaa al-Mansour / 120m

Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Stephen Dillane, Bel Powley, Tom Sturridge, Joanne Froggatt, Ben Hardy, Maisie Williams

London, 1813. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Fanning) is the sixteen year old daughter of bookseller and political philosopher, William Godwin (Dillane). Mary is wilful, and more interested in reading and writing than contributing to the household chores, and this in turn causes bad feelings with her stepmother (Froggatt). Things come to a head and Mary is sent to stay with one of her father’s friends in Scotland. There she meets the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Booth), and an attraction develops between them. When Mary returns to London, Shelley follows her and their relationship deepens, even though Mary learns Shelley is married and has a child. Leaving her family home along with her stepsister Claire Clairmont (Powley), the pair and Shelley at first live in less than impressive surroundings until Shelley comes into some money. An invitation through Claire to stay with notorious poet and philanderer Lord Byron (Sturridge) near Geneva in the summer of 1816 comes just at the right time: Shelley’s creditors are literally knocking at the door. Once there, a challenge from Byron to write a ghost story led Mary to begin writing the novel that would seal her fame and her reputation…