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Cover of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla

Sheridan Le Fanu

  • 90 pages · about 2 hours
  • First published 1872
  • 571 editions
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1 About this book

Laura, a young woman, lives with her widowed English father in a lonely castle deep in the forests of Styria, in Austria, and longs for company. A beautiful and mysterious girl named Carmilla comes to stay with them, and the two grow close; Carmilla is affectionate, languid and secretive about her past. Then Laura begins to sicken and to have strange dreams. Sheridan Le Fanu's novella, first published as a serial in 1871 and 1872, is a vampire story that predates Dracula by twenty-five years.

  • Fantasy
  • Horror
  • Mystery
  • Lesbians
  • Vampires
  • Gothic fiction
  • LGBTQ classics
  • Ireland

2 What to expect

A short Gothic novella from 1872, a vampire story older than Dracula: a lonely young woman in an Austrian castle takes in a beautiful, mysterious guest. It is quiet and eerie, told by the young woman herself, and the pull between the two is as much romantic as predatory, which is why it is known as the first lesbian vampire tale. It can be read in one sitting, and its horror lies in mood, not gore.

Good for readers who want: a gothic vampire classic, eerie atmosphere, and a very short read.

3 About Sheridan Le Fanu

1814–1873

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (; 28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic literature, journalist and newspaper proprietor. Le Fanu is considered by literary critics to be among the greatest ghost story writers of the Victorian era, as several of his works were central to the development of the genre.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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