Tuesdays Tomes: Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Tuesdays Tomes is a weekly book review of mainly vintage books.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Its time for some Gothic fun!

Beautiful, sweet, lonely Laura remembers a terrible dream from her childhood…she was just six years old and awoke to find a beautiful woman in her room. She spoke gently to Laura and lay down beside her. Laura fell back to sleep only to be violently awoken-screaming- by the feeling of two sharp pricks in her chest. Her nursemaid ran in-no marks were found on Laura and there was definitely no sign of any nocturnal visitor.

Years pass. One day a young woman and her mother, traveling near the Schloss where Laura and her father live, have a carriage accident. The daughter is shook up, ill and the mother must continue her journey…the daughter comes to stay at the Schloss for a few weeks to recuperate. The daughter’s name is Carmilla.

This is a fun read…written in 1872 (years before Bram Stokers famous book), it is psychological mystery rather than horror. Who is moody Carmilla? How does Laura feel about her new friend?

Jan asked in her comment last week, how do I find these books? I just troll through Librivox…I do download and listen to a lot of books. I don’t always finish them-I may find the story boring or the reader doesn’t suit me-but there are always lots more ready and waiting for me to discover. I love the different sensibility of these vintage tales and the different society that produced them.

Take this week’s book-now I confess I thoroughly enjoy watching Vampire Diaries on Tuesdays (lucky for me-its DH’s bridge night ) and here’s an interesting question: why is popular culture of the late 19^th century and the late 20^th/ early 21^st century fascinated by the same idea?)

Read by the always wonderful Elizabeth Klett, you can download this free audiobook here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Not in the mood to read…well, you can watch Carmilla here…I’ll get you started.