Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( August 30 , 1797 â `` February 1 , 1851 ) was an author best known for writing the novel Frankenstein . Mary Shelley ( nÃ e Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin ; 30 August 1797 â `` 1 February 1851 ) was a British novelist , short story writer , dramatist , essayist , biographer , and travel writer , best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein : or , The Modern Prometheus ( 1818 ) .