Aug. 30, 2022

This Day in Halloween: Author Mary Shelley is born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797. / Illustration by Gabriela Vega

Author Mary Shelley is born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797. Though she wrote several novels during her career, her first novel, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus, written when she was just 19 years old, is one of the most influential works in Western fiction history. Her other works include the historic novel Valperga, and the sci-fi novel The Last Man. She died in 1851.