Cheat read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Gothic horror: Written 1816, Geneva, Switzerland

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Hilary A White

The rundown A ship stuck in Arctic ice takes on board a stranger called Victor Frankenstein who is suffering badly from exposure. Frankenstein shares his story with Captain Walton, detailing his early years as a Genevan scientist with his friend Henry and beloved adopted sister Elizabeth. He developed a way to bring life back to dead tissue and set about assembling a corporeal form to similarly reanimate.

When he saw the monster he'd created, however, Victor was shocked but by the time he realised this, the creature had escaped. Vengeful, the monster went on to kill its creator's loved ones, eventually confronting Frankenstein in the wilderness and demanding that he create a companion for him.