Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born August 30, 1797, in London, England. Her parents were both writers but sadly, her mother died while Mary was a baby. After being homeschooled as a child, Mary fell in love at a young age. At 16, she married Percy Shelley and changed her name to Mary Shelley. In 1816, the couple traveled to Switzerland for the summer. While there, Shelley and other writers decided to have a ghost story contest. Shelley started writing Frankenstein. Published in 1818, the novel still frightens people nearly 200 years later.
