Frankenstein (1818) is the definitive fable about genetic modification gone haywire which is only too relevant to modern times.Victor Frankenstein decides to build a 'man' from assembled body parts stolen from corpses. What results, of course, is a 'monster', but the mastery of Shelley's storytelling leaves a listener asking themselves what a 'monster' really is - and feeling thoroughly frightened.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) began to write Frankenstein as part of a competition between friends to write a ghost story. Whilst the others soon gave up, her book went on to win immediate acclaim and has enraptured and terrified readers and listeners ever since.