Frankenstein
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley · 1818
This book is rated Ages 13+. It isn't available on your library card.
Trapped in Arctic ice, an explorer takes aboard a dying stranger who tells him how, as a brilliant young student, he discovered the secret of life and built a living being in his lonely garret. Then he fled from what he had made, and set in motion a chain of loneliness, grief and revenge that would follow him to the ends of the earth.
A gothic tragedy with several murders, an execution and deaths from grief and exhaustion. Each one is shown by the moment before or after, through shadow and distance, never in gruesome detail.
Characters
Victor Frankenstein
A brilliant, restless young Genevan whose burning hunger to uncover the secret of life drives him to create a living being.
The Creature
The gigantic being Victor brings to life on a dreary November night, who wakes into a world that shrinks from him.
Robert Walton
An ambitious young English captain seeking a passage past the North Pole, who rescues a stranger from the ice and hears his tale.
Elizabeth Lavenza
A golden-haired orphan adopted into the Frankenstein family, gentle and poetic, whom Victor has cherished since childhood.
Henry Clerval
Victor's lively, warm-hearted school friend, full of romance and adventure, who loves him like a brother.
Alphonse Frankenstein
Victor's dignified, kindly father, a respected former syndic of Geneva devoted to his family's happiness.
Caroline Beaufort
Victor's tender, generous mother, who rescues Elizabeth from poverty and holds the family together with love.
Professor Waldman
A kindly Ingolstadt chemistry professor whose stirring lecture on modern science sets Victor's mind on fire.
Justine Moritz
A gentle, frank-eyed girl taken in by the Frankensteins, loyal and beloved as one of the household.
Old De Lacey
A blind, gentle old man living in exile in a humble forest cottage, cared for by his devoted children.
Felix De Lacey
De Lacey's graceful, sad-eyed son, who toils to keep his poor family alive and pines for a lost love.
Safie
A lively, raven-haired young woman who arrives at the De Laceys' cottage from a faraway land, bringing new joy.
About the story
Frankenstein begins in the frozen Arctic, where Robert Walton, an English explorer, rescues a starving stranger from the ice. The stranger is Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist from Geneva, and he tells Walton his story. Victor grows up in a loving family and becomes fascinated by the secrets of nature. At university in Ingolstadt he works in secret to create a living being. When it opens its eyes, he runs from it in horror, and what follows changes his life and the lives of the people he loves.
The novel moves from the lakes and mountains of Switzerland to the university town of Ingolstadt and the ice fields of the north. It deals with ambition and its cost, responsibility for what we create, loneliness and the need for companionship, and how people treat anyone who looks different.
Mary Shelley began the story when she was eighteen and published it in 1818. It is often called one of the first science-fiction novels. Two centuries later, its questions about science, conscience and what we owe one another still feel urgent. The 'mad scientist' and his creature have become part of popular culture, but the book itself is more thoughtful and moving than most retellings suggest.
This is a condensed picture-book retelling in 78 illustrated pages with about 29 minutes of synthetic-voice narration, and every picture is an AI illustration made for this edition. Mary Shelley's full original text is free in the public domain and well worth reading too.
Adapted from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1818), public domain.
Questions
What is Frankenstein about?
A young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, discovers how to give life to lifeless matter and builds a living creature. Horrified by what he has made, he abandons it, and the story follows what happens to both of them. Victor tells all of this to an Arctic explorer who rescued him from the ice.
Who is the main character in Frankenstein?
The main character is Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who makes the creature. 'Frankenstein' is his name, not the creature's, which goes unnamed. The story is framed by letters from Robert Walton, the explorer who finds Victor in the Arctic.
Is Frankenstein suitable for children or teens?
This edition is rated 13+. The story includes death, grief, graveyards and body parts gathered from charnel-houses, scenes of horror, and violence, so it suits teens and adults better than young children.
How long does this edition take to read or listen to?
The narration runs about 29 minutes over 78 illustrated pages. You can listen straight through or read the pages at your own pace.
Is this the full text of Frankenstein?
No. This is a condensed retelling that follows the main events in a shorter form. Mary Shelley's complete novel is in the public domain and free to read.
Read the text version: every page's caption, with its picture, on one page.
