Mary Shelley (née Wollstonecraft Godwin) was born in 1797 to the feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft and the political writer William Godwin. 

She eloped with the famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when just 16 years old. Shunned by family (Percy was a married man at the time), the couple relied on friends and travel during their early years to evade Percy’s creditors. Later marrying, the couple produced four children, only one of whom survived to adulthood. Mary Shelley survived Percy, who perished in a storm while boating at age 29. 

Her best known work of fiction is her novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). The novel—which Mary began in her teens and published at age 21—is considered a pioneering work of science fiction with strong genre influences of the Gothic and romantic variety. Some critics believe Frankenstein was heavily influenced by the editing of her poet husband.

She wrote several more novels, travel essays, verse dramas and short stories during her career. Her novel The Last Man (1826), also a work of early science fiction, is her best known after Frankenstein. Other works include the novels Valperga (1823), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). 

Mary Shelley died of a brain tumor in 1851 at the age of 53.