The novel begins in a frame narrative: Robert Walton, the captain of a ship, recounts his adventures through a series of letters to his sister back in England. Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein in the seas near the North Pole and is told his story, and the major part of the novel consists of Frankenstein's narration of his strange adventures. Victor tells Walton of his early life in Geneva and his close relationships with his cousin, Elizabeth Lavenza, who had come to live with his family when her mother died, and his friend Henry Clerval. ....