BRAM Stoker’s 1897 Gothic shocker introduced Count Dracula to the world, an ancient creature bent on bringing his contagion to London, the very heart of the British Empire. Only a handful of men and women stand between Dracula and his long-cherished goal, but they are vulnerable and weak against the cunning and supernatural powers of the Count and his legions.
As the horrifying story unfolds in the diaries and letters of young Jonathan Harker, Lucy, and Dr Seward, Dracula will be victorious unless his nemesis professor Van Helsing can persuade them that monsters still lurk in the era of electric light.
Dracula is a mirror of its age, its underlying themes of race, religion, science, superstition, and sexuality never far from the surface. A compelling read, rattling along at break-neck speed, it is a modern classic: still the original and best vampire story.
This brand new edition has added Stoker’s companion piece to the novel, Dracula’s Guest.
(Oxford University Press,Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP UK, www.oxford.oup.uk)
