Frankenstein

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No, you don’t have to buy the ebook to participate, but we do recommend it to get the most out of your club. There are several premium social reading features that are only available when you buy the ebook, like annotations, reactions, comment threads, resources, discussion prompts, and more, all embedded right in the text. It’s a unique and immersive way to read.

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Kindle is a straightforward e-reader; Fable is an interactive e-reader that includes social features inside the ebooks. When you read an ebook on Fable, you can see and react to the text with others in real time. Start a discussion, share highlights and quotes, add emoji reactions—all of it lives right inside the book. It’s hard to explain and easy to see, so we recommend reading the free sample in one of our most active clubs to get a feel for it.

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The first step is to download the Fable app. From there, you’ll be able to create your own private or public book club and invite others to read with you. Once your club is created, click on the plus sign under “Currently reading” and search for this book to add it to your club.

By Mary Shelley

Publisher Description

In the age of AI, this classic tale of technology gone wrong is a must-read collectible in this handsome edition.

The combination of fantastical elements and scientific exploration makes this Mary Shelley novel one of the first true models of science fiction. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus pioneered the deeply explored battle between monster and man. Follow three narratives in this ageless tale that navigates fear, fixation, love, and desire, while finding an anchor in humanity. The story comes alive anew in this beautifully designed edition featuring:

An introduction by writer and English professor Catherine Steindler
An author’s introduction
A timeline of the life and times of Mary Shelley

This gorgeous, heirloom-quality collection is an ideal edition for classic book lovers to acquire for their home library.

Essential volumes for the shelves of every classic literature lover, these deluxe classics editions include beautifully presented works from some of the most important authors in literary history. Other Chartwell Deluxe Editions include Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The Essential Grimm's Fairy Tales, Anne of Green Gables, The Inferno, Dracula, The Republic, The Iliad, Meditations, and Irish Fairy and Folk Tales.

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Frankenstein Reviews

3.5

WSYREADS

Created about 18 hours ago

“=> Gothic Tragedy => Isolation & Coldness => Creator vs Creation => Moral Ambiguity => Grief & Obsession => Doomed Longing ❄️ This story feels like walking into a blizzard with your chest cracked open. Shelley doesn’t do cheap scares; she builds a world frozen with guilt, regret, and consequences clawing at Victor’s heels. Every chapter drips with dread and that sharp, lonely cold you can practically feel in your bones. 🥀 The creature is the bleeding heart of the novel. His voice is all ache and desperation, too aware of his own suffering, too tender for the world he’s thrown into. The blind old man moment is the book’s only flicker of warmth, which makes its destruction feel like watching hope get strangled right in front of you. 🌫️ Every side character is another shadow swallowed by Victor’s obsession. Elizabeth’s death hits like the air gets sucked out of the room. His entire family is dragged under by the fallout of choices he refuses to confront. The novel turns into this slow, inevitable collapse where love keeps getting replaced by loss. ⚰️ The pacing is pure Gothic atmosphere. Heavy, deliberate, echoing with grief and cold landscapes that mirror the creature’s internal winter. Everything feels like a graveyard or a confession left unfinished. 🌄 And the 2025 film took that tragedy and carved it deeper. The creature holding Elizabeth as she dies — finally touching someone gently without terror — shattered whatever was left. Then that sunrise ending, where he walks away alive but brutally alone, hit harder than the novel’s finale. A dawn that feels like a curse, not a blessing. It’s a four because the prose is dense, not because the story fails. The emotional wreckage is unmatched.”

Karla M.

Created 5 days ago

Cat

Created 5 days ago

“The fact that the monster is taking away Victor’s ‘loved ones’ (as much as a self centred man can love) as punishment as the monster has no one to love, and been created ugly in countenance so that it repels others so they don’t even get to know the monsters compassion and love. This is why the monster may have chosen this form of punishment for his creator, Victor. Victor would not act on the one request that the monster asked which was for another to be created so the monster would have friendship or that he would feel loved. Only then is when Victor realises what might happen if he goes through with this request. That they may not love the monster and also want to cause harm to others, so he then stops and destroys the second creation. Yet he did not consider this before making his first creation. The way the monster has been perceived by strangers due to his external countenance and people running in fear; has made the monster change his persona from the compassionate observer he was, to becoming what others expected of him due to hatred and what others believed him to be. To me this reminds me of today, how news/social media tells us a certain story, how it is told to us and portrayed in a certain light so we see it in a way they want us to see it. It may be true but we may also only get given limited information and not the full facts. Victor was a selfish and insensitive man with no sign of forgiveness for his actions. He was the catalyst for the outcome of his demise. The monster who was born from selfishness, can only lead to hate and loathing. I’ve found this book hard to rate as this is completely different to my normal genre and I’ve not read a classic for a long time. It has made me interested in reading more books that are thought provoking like this one in future. It really helped reading this with others in a Fable book club. Putting our thoughts together and either agreeing or showing a way to discuss what we’ve learnt. I found the first half harder to follow and understand but as soon as I got the POV of the monster I found the story more engaging. This book feels like a cautionary tale about scientific progress. A bit like with today with the progression in science and AI, we don’t consider the consequences of our actions which future generations may have to suffer with. Or for example you could think of climate change being one we are already living through.”

Katherine Fisher

Created 12 days ago

“I just watched the new movie, which was incredible so I figured I should reread the book. I hadn’t read it since high school and I had forgotten most of it. The book did not disappoint!”

Multilayered Original Atmospheric Dark Eerie Mysterious Beautifully-written Death Murder

mel

Created 14 days ago

About Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (30 August 1797–1 February 1851) was an English romantic/gothic novelist and the author of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. She was married to the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Somers Town, London, in 1797. She was the second daughter of famed feminist, philosopher, educator, and writer Mary Wollstonecraft. Her father was the equally famous anarchist philosopher, novelist, journalist, and atheist dissenter William Godwin. Her mother died of puerperal fever ten days after Mary was born.