LightNovelLingo
Home / Library / English / Frankenstein

Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley

An Arctic explorer writes to his sister, and the tale begins.

Read this book free →

Original language: EnglishLevel: Advanced3,457 characters · ≈ 5 minSource: Project Gutenberg
Books behind this year’s screen adaptations

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein on Netflix, and The Bride! (2026), loosely inspired by the novel.

Opening lines

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and…

Read free →

About the book

Frankenstein is an 1818 Gothic novel by English author Mary Shelley. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature from different body parts in an unorthodox scientific experiment. The section held in this library opens with letters from Arctic explorer Walton to his sister. Blending Gothic fiction with Romanticism, the novel has had considerable influence on literature and popular culture.

About the author

Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist whose Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: Frankenstein (CC BY-SA)

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

FAQ

Is this the original text?

Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from Project Gutenberg.

Do I need to pay or sign up?

Library books are free to read without an account. Other gloss languages and importing your own texts need an account and credits.

What level is it?

This one is marked “Advanced”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

Can I use another gloss language?

English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.

More in this language

Read this book free →