William Godwin publishes Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, an emotional biography of Mary Wollstonecraft. The book, which details Wollstonecraft’s suicide attempts and the couple’s sex life, causes much scandal. Before she begins writing Frankenstein, Mary Shelley reads the memoir sev eral times.

1801Godwin marries Mary Jane Clairmont, whose son, Charles, and daughter, Jane, join the household; also living with them is Fanny Imlay, Mary Wollstonecraft’s daughter by Captain Gilbert Imlay, an American.
1812The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, recently expelled from Oxford for refusing to admit to writing The Necessity of Atheism, initiates a cor respondence with William Godwin, whom he admires; Godwin, famous for his 1793 Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, is also admired by Coleridge, among others. Mary spends ten blissful months in
Dundee, Scotland; she falls in love with the Scottish landscape, which will feature prominently in Frankenstein.
1814At age sixteen, Mary elopes with Percy Shelley, taking along her stepsister, Jane. Mary’s father refuses to speak to her for the next two years. Jane, who later changes her name to Claire, becomes a semipermanent fixture in Percy and Mary’s household. Percy continues to see his wife Harriet intermittently.
1815Mary gives premature birth to an unnamed daughter who dies within days. Percy makes the acquaintance of the critic and essayist William Hazhtt and the poet John Keats.
1816Mary gives birth to a son, William. The family relocates to Geneva, where they meet George Gordon, Lord Byron. In a friendly “ghost story” competition, Byron produces “A Fragment.” His literary friend and doctor John William Pohdori writes “The Vampyre: A Tale,” which is not published until 1819, when it is attributed to Byron; “The Vampyre” later greatly influences Bram Stoker’s Dra cula ( 1897 ) . At the encouragement of Percy and Byron, Mary Shel ley begins writing Frankenstein. Mary’s half-sister, Fanny, commits suicide. Harriet Shelley drowns herself and her unborn child, her third by Percy. Percy and Mary, who is also pregnant, marry at St. Mildred’s Church in London on December 30. William Godwin reconciles with his daughter.
1817The Shelleys move to Great Marlow, on the Thames. Claire gives birth to Byron’s daughter, Allegra. Mary gives birth to a daughter, Clara. History of a Six Weeks’ Tour recounts the Shelleys’ travels through France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland in 1814 fol lowing their elopement. Mary completes Frankenstein.
1818Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, published anonymously in three volumes, is an overwhelming success. Clara, Mary’s daughter, dies in Venice. Byron begins his epic poem Don Juan.
1819Young William, whom Percy adoringly calls “Will-mouse,” dies of malaria. Mary gives birth to Percy Florence, her only child to survive infancy.
1820Percy publishes Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama. Hans Christian Ørsted discovers the connection between electricity and magnet ism.
1821John Keats dies, and Percy elegizes him in the long poem Adonais. Percy writes a critical essay, A Defence of Poetry, not published until
1840, that claims poets are the “unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Though she is surrounded by radicals, Mary Shelley’s worldview becomes increasingly conservative.
1822Mary miscarries and nearly dies of hemorrhaging. Percy and his friend Edward Williams drown on July 8 when their boat, the Don Juan, sinks during a storm.
1823Mary Shelley’s novel Valperga is published. Richard Brinsley’s play Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein opens at the English Opera House, and Mary attends a performance. Frankenstein is reprinted in two volumes, this time bearing Mary Shelley’s name. Four more plays based on Frankenstein open this year, all to minimal success.
1824Mary publishes Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Posthumous Poems. Percy’s fa ther, Sir Timothy Shelley, tells Mary he will withhold Percy Flor ence’s allowance until Mary stops publishing the late poet’s writing.
1826The Last Man, one of Mary Shelley’s finest novels, chronicles the last surviving member of the human race, which has been all but wiped out by plague.
1828Mary contracts smallpox.