Which 19th century horror novel was written by Mary Shelley?

This legendary tale of horror and scientific ambition was born from a ghost story competition during a dreary summer in 1816. While staying near Lake Geneva with poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, a teenaged Mary Godwin (later Shelley) was challenged to write a terrifying tale. She conceived the story of Victor Frankenstein (Review), a brilliant but arrogant scientist who discovers the secret to creating life, only to be horrified by the grotesque creature he animates. First published in 1818, her novel, fully titled *Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus*, explored complex themes of creation, responsibility, and loneliness, and is now considered by many to be the first true science-fiction novel.

While the novel was a literary sensation, its most enduring legacy is arguably in cinema. The story has been adapted for the screen dozens of times, but it was the 1931 film from Universal Pictures that cemented the creature's image in popular culture. Boris Karloff's portrayal, with the flat-topped head, neck bolts, and stiff-legged walk, is an invention of the film and is not described in Shelley's original text. The movie also popularized the common error of calling the monster "Frankenstein," when in the novel, that is the last name of his creator. The creature itself remains tragically nameless.