Originally written as a response to a challenge from Lord Byron? Frankenstein still haunts our minds with images of the dead brought back to hideous life. Mary Shelley's nineteenth-century masterpiece begins with a fateful rescue in the Arctic and slowly evolves into a gripping story of horror'a contest of wills between Victor Frankenstein and the monster he creates. Wandering through Europe? the confused creature searches for a father figure in the tortured scientist who stitched him together with body parts stolen from the grave. Themes of revenge? the philosophical limits of science? and forbidden knowledge are deeply explored in the greatest Gothic novel ever written. This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader's notes to help the modern reader contend with Shelley's complex vocabulary and references.