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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is worth noting because of the peculiarity of circumstances surrounding her life. Shelley was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. The Godwins believed in free love but married to spare the child the stigma of being a legal bastard. Mary's mother died soon after child birth due to a retained placenta. Mr. Godwin went on to raise the child with Fanny Imlay, a result of Mrs. Wollstonecraft's affair with a U.S. Army officer. This did not last and Mr. Godwin finally found love with Mary Jane (Claire) Clairmont, his next- door neighbor. They were married in 1801 and had a son, William. Mary led a secluded and lonely life as a child because of a distant relationship with her father. She spent much of her time reading and writing. In the years 1812- 1814 Mary was happy traveling to visit Isabel and Christy Baxter in Dundee; a family on which the Frankensteins and Clervals were based on in her novel. In May of 1814 Mary was introduced to the nineteen year old Percy Blysshe Shelley. Their relationship blossomed quickly and on July 28 of the same year the two young lovers eloped. Their trip was through France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland. This tour was less than pleasurable due to financial problems and the accompaniment of Claire Clairmont. After the six week tour the three returned to London. Shelley visited rarely to avoid creditors. In the following months Mary, with Shelley's approval, took on Thomas Jefferson Hogg as her lover. Hogg had been Shelley's good friend at Oxford before the two were expelled for producing a pamphlet promoting Atheism. Mary's decision to take on Hogg may have been influenced by her father's advocation of free love. Mary's first child was born in 1815 and died two weeks later due to the complications of premature birth. A year later, Mary gave birth to another boy, William. Mary's novel is a result of a ghost story telling contest she and friends had organized. Work on the novel, however, continued under the close supervision of the highly educated Percy Shelley. The novel was completed on may 14, 1817, but was not published until March 11, 1818. It was sold to a small and less than reputable firm that published it anonymously. Frankenstein was immediately successful and widely accepted. On the day of publication the Shelleys and Claire sailed for Italy, where Percy Shelley would later die. Mary went on to write for many different publications and evolved into a highly regarded author. She died on February 1, 1851 and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard between the bodies of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin.