Who wrote the 1818 novel "Frankenstein"?

Mary Shelley wrote the 1818 novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus."

Shelley began developing the story in 1816 while staying near Lake Geneva with Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori. A storytelling challenge during the famously rainy “Year Without a Summer” helped inspire her idea of a scientist who creates life and becomes horrified by his creation.

The first edition appeared anonymously in London on January 1, 1818, in three volumes. Mary Shelley was only 20 when it was published, and her name was added to the title page of the 1823 edition. A heavily revised edition followed in 1831.

A common mix-up is calling the creature “Frankenstein.” Frankenstein is actually the name of Victor Frankenstein, the scientist; the novel never gives his creation a personal name. The book is also often labeled science fiction, although its primary genre is Gothic fiction.