Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) was an English novelist, dramatist, and short story writer, universally known for her Gothic novel “Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.” “The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck” is a historical novel about the life of Perkin Warbeck, claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, the second son of King Edward IV. The book takes a point of view that Perkin Warbeck died in childhood and the supposed impostor was Richard indeed. The book also contains the message that an ideal political system is impossible without signifi cant changes in human nature.