Author Guide · Gothic & Historical Fiction
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In June 1816, at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva, Lord Byron proposed that each of his guests write a ghost story. Mary Godwin was eighteen. The idea that came to her in a “waking dream” became Frankenstein, published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818 in an edition of 500 copies. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, who died eleven days after her birth, and William Godwin; by 1822 she was a widow of twenty-four with one surviving child. She went on to write five more novels — a medieval Italian epic, a plague story set at the end of the twenty-first century, a Tudor romance and two novels of family secrets — along with travel books, biographies and the posthumous novella Mathilda. This guide covers her nine key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 1817–1959 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Mary Shelley’s best-known book is Frankenstein (1818), revised in 1831. Her six novels run from Frankenstein to Falkner (1837), with The Last Man (1826) the most read after it; the novella Mathilda, written in 1819–20, was not published until 1959. Start with Frankenstein, then try The Last Man to see how far beyond it she went.
Where to Start with Mary Shelley
If you want her defining book
→ Frankenstein (1818) — the 1818 novel that is still read and filmed today.
If you have already read Frankenstein
→ The Last Man (1826) — a world ended by plague, narrated by its last survivor.
If you want something short and personal
→ Mathilda (1959) — the novella her father would not publish.
If you want her as a historical novelist
→ Valperga (1823) — fourteenth-century Italy and a ruler who chooses conquest.
9 Mary Shelley Books, in Order
History of a Six Weeks’ Tour
Her first published work, issued anonymously in November 1817. It combines her journal of the journey through France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland that she, Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont made after eloping in 1814, four letters from Geneva written in 1816, and the first printing of Percy’s poem “Mont Blanc”. Mary did most of the writing.
Frankenstein
The explorer Robert Walton, in letters from the Arctic, records the story of Victor Frankenstein, a Genevan student who builds and animates a living being and then abandons it; at the centre of the book the creature tells his own story, and his turn to revenge. It appeared anonymously in three volumes on 1 January 1818. For the 1831 edition she added an introduction describing the summer of 1816 and revised the text: Elizabeth, Victor’s cousin in 1818, becomes an adopted orphan, and Victor seems more driven by destiny. The first stage version, Presumption, came in 1823; Universal’s 1931 film with Boris Karloff fixed the creature’s popular image.
Valperga
Set in early fourteenth-century Italy during the wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines, it follows the real Castruccio Castracani, lord of Lucca, as his conquests threaten Valperga, a fortress ruled by Countess Euthanasia, the woman he loves. She chooses political liberty over him. Godwin edited the manuscript and chose the title. It was not reprinted in her lifetime, and she complained that it never had “fair play”.
The Last Man
Lionel Verney narrates the years 2073 to 2100, in which a plague spreads across the world and kills almost everyone, until he is left alone in Rome with a sheepdog. Adrian, Earl of Windsor, is modelled on Percy Shelley and Lord Raymond on Byron, both dead by the time it was published in January 1826. Reviewers mocked it; it stayed largely out of print until 1965 and has since been read as an early classic of apocalyptic fiction.
The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck
A romance built on the Yorkist premise that the pretender Perkin Warbeck really was Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the princes in the Tower. Hidden after Bosworth in 1485, Richard grows up abroad and returns to claim the throne from Henry VII. His wife, Lady Katherine Gordon, survives his death and offers a domestic counterweight to the power politics that destroy him. Shelley consulted Walter Scott while writing it.
Lodore
Jealous of an admirer of his wife Cornelia, Lord Lodore takes their daughter Ethel to the wilderness of Illinois. He is killed in a duel on the way back to England. Ethel marries Villiers, a man without money, stands by him through years of hardship, and finally works her way towards reconciliation with the mother she barely knows.
Falkner
Her last novel. Elizabeth Raby, a six-year-old orphan, stops Rupert Falkner from killing himself; he adopts her and raises her. As a young woman she falls in love with the son of the woman whose death Falkner caused years earlier, and stays loyal to Falkner when he is put on trial for murder and acquitted. Shelley thought it might be her best book; most critics have disagreed.
Rambles in Germany and Italy
Her last published book, in two volumes, written as letters about two journeys with her son Percy Florence and his friends, including a return to the Italy where she had lived with Percy Shelley and lost two children. It argues for Italian independence against Austrian rule. Reviewers praised its independent judgement; it was not reprinted until the 1970s.
Mathilda
Written in 1819, in Italy after the deaths of her two young children, and first titled The Fields of Fancy. Mathilda, dying young, tells how her father confessed an incestuous love for her and then killed himself. Godwin, who received the manuscript in 1820, found its themes “disgusting and detestable” and did not publish it or send it back. It was first published in 1959, edited by Elizabeth Nitchie from the Abinger papers.
In What Order to Read Mary Shelley
None of her books continue from one another, so you can read in any order. Publication order shows her moving from the Gothic of Frankenstein through two large historical novels and the apocalyptic The Last Man to the quieter family novels of the 1830s, written while she supported herself and her son by her pen.
For Frankenstein, check which text you are buying: most cheap editions print the 1831 revision with her introduction, while many academic editions print the 1818 text. Read Mathilda after Frankenstein; it was written only a year later and is much shorter.
A reading path
1. Frankenstein (1818)
2. Mathilda (1959)
3. The Last Man (1826)
4. Valperga (1823)
5. Lodore (1835)
Everything Else Mary Shelley Published
Beyond the 9 key books: 10 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Biography and editing
3
3 books · 1824–1839
- 1824Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelleyedited by her two years after his death
- 1835Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Menbiographies of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French writers for Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia, five volumes, 1835–1839
- 1839The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelleyfour volumes, with her notes on the poems
Drama and short fiction
4
4 books · 1832–1976
- 1832Proserpinea verse drama written in Italy in 1820, printed in The Winter’s Wreath for 1832
- 1834The Mortal Immortala story about a man who drinks an elixir of life, in The Keepsake
- 1922Midasa verse drama written in 1820, first published in 1922
- 1976Collected Tales and Storiesher magazine stories gathered by Charles E. Robinson
Rediscovered and private writing
3
3 books · 1980–1998
- 1980The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelleythree volumes, edited by Betty T. Bennett, 1980–1988
- 1995The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814–1844edited by Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert
- 1998Maurice; or, The Fisher’s Cota story written in 1820, found in Italy in 1997
The years · 1797–1851
Quick facts about Mary Shelley
- Known for
- Writing Frankenstein (1818), begun at eighteen, which gave the world the story of a scientist and the creature he makes and abandons.
- 1797
- Born in Somers Town, London
- 1818
- Frankenstein
- 1826
- The Last Man
- 1851
- Dies in London
- Born
- 30 August 1797, Somers Town, London
- Parents
- Mary Wollstonecraft, who died eleven days after her birth, and William Godwin
- Married
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 30 December 1816, in London; he drowned in July 1822
- Children
- Four; only Percy Florence (born 1819) survived childhood
- Other work
- Biographies for Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia; editor of Percy Shelley’s poems (1824, 1839)
- Died
- 1 February 1851, Chester Square, London; buried at St Peter’s, Bournemouth
The red mark is 1818: Frankenstein, published anonymously when she was twenty.
How Mary Shelley Writes: Stories Inside Stories
She likes to hand a story from one voice to another. Frankenstein is three narratives nested inside each other: Walton’s letters to his sister, Victor’s confession to Walton, and at the centre the creature’s own account of learning language and being rejected. The Last Man opens with an introduction claiming the story was pieced together from prophetic leaves found in the Sibyl’s cave near Naples, and Rambles in Germany and Italy is told in letters.
Her own life and circle run through the fiction. Mathilda was written in 1819 after the deaths of two of her children; in The Last Man Adrian is Percy Shelley and Lord Raymond is Byron, and the narrator, alone among the dead, has been read as her portrait of herself after 1822. The 1831 introduction to Frankenstein ends with a reminder that the book was written when she “was not alone”.
She is also a political novelist, which her reputation as a Gothic writer hides. Valperga sets a conqueror against a woman who governs by reason, Perkin Warbeck shows the price of dynastic ambition, and Rambles argues for Italian independence. For writers who share her mix of terror and ideas, see Authors like Mary Shelley.
Frequently asked questions about Mary Shelley’s books
How many books has Mary Shelley written?
Six novels — Frankenstein, Valperga, The Last Man, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, Lodore and Falkner — plus the novella Mathilda, two travel books, five volumes of biographies, two verse dramas and many short stories. The nine key books on this page are the novels, the novella and the two travel books.
What are Mary Shelley’s books in order?
History of a Six Weeks’ Tour (1817), Frankenstein (1818), Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), Falkner (1837), Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and Mathilda, written in 1819–20 and first published in 1959.
Where should I start with Mary Shelley?
With Frankenstein (1818). If you have already read it, go on to The Last Man (1826), or to Mathilda if you want something short.
What is Mary Shelley’s most famous book?
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, published anonymously on 1 January 1818, when she was twenty. It is often described as one of the first works of science fiction.
What is Frankenstein actually about?
Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist from Geneva, builds a living being and then abandons it in horror. The creature, who learns to speak and read on his own, is rejected by everyone he approaches and turns to revenge against his maker. The story reaches us through the letters of the Arctic explorer Robert Walton, who meets Victor near the end of his life.
Should I read the 1818 or the 1831 Frankenstein?
Either works. The 1831 edition, the one most popular editions print, adds her introduction about the summer of 1816 and revises the text: Elizabeth becomes an adopted orphan instead of Victor’s cousin, and Victor seems more a victim of destiny. Many scholars prefer the 1818 text as closer to what she first wrote.
Did Percy Shelley write Frankenstein?
No, though his part is debated. Because the 1818 edition was anonymous and carried his preface, early readers, Walter Scott among them, assumed Percy was the author. The manuscripts show he edited it: Charles E. Robinson, who published the drafts in 2008 as The Original Frankenstein, estimated that Percy contributed at least 4,000 to 5,000 words of about 72,000. Most scholars see his role as editorial and the book as hers.
Did Mary Shelley write any other famous books besides Frankenstein?
The Last Man (1826), a novel about a plague that ends humanity, is the most read of the others; it was largely forgotten until it was reprinted in 1965. Valperga (1823) and The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830) are her historical novels, and Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837) her later novels of family life.
Why was Mathilda not published until 1959?
She wrote it in 1819 and in 1820 sent the manuscript to her father, William Godwin, to find a publisher. Godwin found its subject, a father’s incestuous love for his daughter, “disgusting and detestable”; he did not publish it and did not return it, though she asked for it back. The manuscript ended up in the Abinger family’s Shelley papers, from which Elizabeth Nitchie published it in 1959.
How old was Mary Shelley when she wrote Frankenstein?
Eighteen when she began it at Lake Geneva in June 1816, nineteen when she finished it in 1817, and twenty when it was published on 1 January 1818.
What are the best Frankenstein adaptations?
The first was the stage play Presumption (1823). Universal’s 1931 film, with Boris Karloff as the creature, created the flat-headed image most people know. Guillermo del Toro’s version, with Oscar Isaac as Victor and Jacob Elordi as the creature, premiered at Venice in August 2025 and came to Netflix that November.
Was Mary Shelley related to Mary Wollstonecraft?
Yes. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and the philosopher William Godwin. Her mother died eleven days after her birth.
When did Mary Shelley die?
On 1 February 1851, at her home in Chester Square, London, aged 53; her doctor suspected a brain tumour. She is buried at St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth.
Footnotes
- Mary Shelley — Wikipedia
- Mary Shelley bibliography — Wikipedia
- The Last Man — Wikipedia
- Publication history of Frankenstein — University of Pennsylvania
- Marking 200 years of Mary Shelley’s Mathilda — Keats-Shelley Association of America
- Charles Robinson on The Original Frankenstein — University of Delaware
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper.”
— Mary Shelley, introduction to Frankenstein (1831)
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