This book was so amazing that it was chosen as my favourite book of October aka Caley’s Book Recommendation of the Month That Nobody Asked For
Isolated in a remote mansion in a Central European forest, Laura longs for companionship- until a carriage accident brings another young woman into her life: the secretive and sometimes erratic Carmella. As Carmilla’s actions become more puzzling and volatile, Laura develops bizarre symptoms, and as her health goes into decline, Laura and her father discover something monstrous.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s compelling tale of a young woman’s seduction by a female vampire was a source of influence for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which it predates by over a quarter century.
This book is so super short at 139 pages but so much was included in these pages. I gave this book 5 stars and have added it to my list of books that I want to reread and it’s swooped (flapped it’s vampire wings?) onto my list of favourite classics.
In this book a mysterious stranger comes to stay at the mansion where Laura and her father live. Laura’s loneliness is so apparent throughout the start of the book. She is so dreadfully desperate for companionship. Despite the blurb telling me that Carmilla was a vampire didn’t stop me from rooting for their relationship, I wanted those two to just be happy but vampire novels rarely give the vampire a happy ending. They really should…maybe I shouldn’t have been rooting for the vampire
In this book the ‘big bad’ vampire is a young and beautiful aristocrat who seems so frail. I absolutely adored the vampire being so different to what I expected from a vampire. I do love vampire books so will happily read the classic wealthy vampire dude in a castle books (Dracula is still one of my favourite classics) I just loved the unexpected vampire appearance. It really helped to show how strong she was despite appearing so frail.
This book also had the most perfect description of an orgasm ever: My heart beat faster, my breathing rose and fell rapidly; then came a sobbing that rose into a sense of strangulation and turned into a dreadful convulsion, in which my senses left me and I became unconscious. Oh my! There were some beautifully romantic parts of this book and I really grew invested. The writing in this book was just exquisite and so beautiful. I could have read this book again straight after finishing it.
It’s so hard to believe that this book was first published in 1871 as it didn’t feel dated at all. Despite being so short in length, this book managed to make me feel such strong feelings for the characters, I even shed a little tear (only a little one).
I really enjoy vampire books and books with a strong female lead and this book gave me both. I highly recommend this book to everyone. EVERYONE! It’s glorious. Please read it and then we can talk about it
Kapowski Reads 