The vampire novel that defined a genre by tapping into our deepest fears and darkest fantasies A junior solicitor travels to Transylvania to meet with an important client, the mysterious Count Dracula. Ignoring the dire warnings of local townsfolk, he allows himself to be seduced by the count’s courtly manners and erudite charm. Too late, the solicitor realizes that he is a prisoner of Castle … of Castle Dracula, his guards a trio of voluptuous young women with sharp white teeth and a taste for blood.
Soon thereafter, the solicitor’s fianc e, Mina, visits a friend on the English coast. The town is full of speculation over a Russian ship run aground nearby, its crew missing, the dead body of its captain, crucifix in hand, lashed to the wheel. A giant dog was seen leaping from the deck before disappearing into the countryside. The ship’s cargo: fifty boxes of Transylvanian dirt. As the beautiful Mina will soon learn, Count Dracula has arrived.
At once a Gothic reflection of the Victorian era and a timeless tale of sinister lust, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has inspired countless adaptations–none with the same power to quicken the pulse as the original.
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The story opens with Count Dracula in Transylvania. Young Jonathan is visiting him there because the Count would like to buy a house in England. While Jonathan is visiting, he witnesses strange behavior by the Count that he cannot explain. And he realizes he is Dracula’s prisoner because he cannot leave the castle. He wonders the castle which seems largely empty, and he meets 3 women vampires called “the sisters” whom he realizes are vampires. He starts to put together that Dracula is too. He barely escapes with his life.
Dracula, meanwhile, is on a ship heading for England. He has boxes full of soil that he must have in order to survive. He wants to go to England to make more vampires.
While Jonathan is gone, his wife, Mina, is staying with a friend named Lucy. Lucy falls ill, and Mina notices she has two small pin prick marks on her neck. Concerned, Mina sends for Lucy’s betrothed (Arthur) plus two other men who care deeply for Lucy named Dr. Seward and Quincey Morris to try and figure out what is wrong with her. Lucy continues to grow weaker and weaker, and it becomes apparent to the reader the Dracula is somehow involved.
Enter Professor Abraham Van Helsing who is a good friend of Dr. Seward. He immediately figures out what is wrong with Lucy, but by that time, it is too late. Lucy dies and is buried by her distraught betrothed, Arthur.
Once Lucy is buried, young children start to disappear from the area. Van Helsing figures out it is Lucy who is luring the children to the graveyard so she can feed on them. Van Helsing convinces Arthur that they will have to cut off Lucy’s head and stab a wooden stake through her heart so that she is no longer a vampire and can truly rest.
Jonathan, Mina, Dr. Seward, Arthur, Quincey Morris, and Van Helsing all join forces to drive Dracula out of England and also to eventually kill him. They research his powers and his weaknesses and develop a plan. Dracula gets wind of that plan and soon bites Mina 3 times so that he can control her. It changes her, but she never completely becomes a vampire. Instead of her giving herself over completely to Dracula, she uses the connection to help the team find him and kill him.
This is a GREAT book. I won’t give away the ending, but I am sure most people know. The writing was superb, and easy to follow, even though it was written over 120 years ago. Just excellent. I don’t know how I have never read this classic novel, but I am so glad that I did. I really did enjoy every word. I definitely want to add other books by Stoker to my TBR list once this challenge is over.
Scary, scary, had to sleep with the light on for days. Very well written, heart pounding and gives you nightmares. If you like horror this book is for you!
Amazing. Great book. no wonder it’s a classic
A difficult read. Plays out through letter and diary entries with a hard pace to follow. Great story if you can work through that though. Lots of classic vampire lore that we know and love today started here.