Mary Shelley: A Ghost Story Challenge on a Stormy Night… Then Came Frankenstein

In the summer of 1816, the sun hardly shone.

A group of friends, trapped indoors by storms, set themselves a challenge: each of them would write a ghost story.

One of them was just eighteen.

This is the story of Mary Shelley.

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Ghost. A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that some people believe they can see.

They read German ghost stories aloud.

Gothic. A gothic story is dark and mysterious, full of old buildings, storms and secrets.

It was the perfect night for a gothic tale.

Challenge. A challenge is a difficult task, or an invitation to compete.

Lord Byron set a challenge: "We will each write a ghost story."

Creature. A creature is a living thing, especially a strange or frightening one.

The creature in her novel has no name.

Science fiction. Science fiction is stories about imagined science and how it changes our world.

Many call Frankenstein the first science fiction novel.

Now, one pattern: no sooner and hardly.

We use them when one thing happens immediately after another.

She closed her eyes.

At once, she saw it.

No sooner had she closed her eyes than she saw it.

Or: hardly had she closed her eyes when she saw it.

Ready? Let's begin.

Mary was born in London in 1797.

Her mother, the famous writer Mary Wollstonecraft, died less than two weeks later.

People say little Mary learned her letters by tracing her mother's name on the gravestone.

Her father, the thinker William Godwin, filled their home with books and ideas.

At sixteen, she left England with the young poet Percy Shelley.

The year before, a huge volcano had erupted in Indonesia.

Its dust spread around the world and dimmed the sun.

In Europe, 1816 became the year without a summer: cold, endless rain and failed harvests.

By Lake Geneva, they spent their days with the famous poet Lord Byron at his villa.

Hardly had one storm passed when another arrived.

So, by candlelight, they read German ghost stories aloud.

It was the perfect night for a gothic tale.

Then Lord Byron set a challenge: "We will each write a ghost story."

The others soon began.

But every morning someone asked Mary, "Have you thought of a story?"

And every morning, she had to say no.

Would she ever find her story?

One night, Byron and Percy talked late about science and the secret of life.

Could electricity bring the dead back to life?

Mary listened. It was long after midnight when she finally went to bed.

No sooner had she closed her eyes than she saw it: a pale student kneeling beside the thing he had made.

Then, slowly, the thing began to move.

She opened her eyes in terror.

Hardly had she woken up the next morning when she told the others: "I have thought of a story!"

That day, she wrote her first words: "It was on a dreary night of November."

The short tale grew into a whole novel: Frankenstein.

It was published in 1818, without the author's name.

Many readers thought her husband had written it.

Only later did the world learn that the author was a young woman.

Many people think Frankenstein is the monster.

In fact, Victor Frankenstein is the scientist.

The creature in her novel has no name.

Many call Frankenstein the first science fiction novel.

Mary's later life was often hard.

Her husband drowned when she was only twenty-four, and she supported herself and her son by writing.

She died in 1851.

Her story has been read for more than 200 years.

Let's review. They read German ghost stories aloud.

It was the perfect night for a gothic tale.

Lord Byron set a challenge: "We will each write a ghost story."

The creature in her novel has no name.

Many call Frankenstein the first science fiction novel.

And remember: no sooner had she closed her eyes than she saw it.

Mary Shelley's story teaches us: even the darkest night can give us our brightest idea.

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