For the bicentennial of its first publication, Mary Shelley's original 1818 text, introduced by National Book Critics Circle award-winner Charlotte Gordon. 2018 marks the bicentennial of Mary Shelley's seminal novel. For the first time, Penguin Classics has published the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley's relationship with her mother?trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Woman?and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother's ideals, placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon, and a chronology and essay by pre-eminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.