Product Description

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned shipis wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival. In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11771 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

About the Author
Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847 - 1912) was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and joined the Irish Civil Service before his love of theatre led him to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail. He went on to act as as manager and secretary for the actor Sir Henry Irving, while writing his novels, the most famous of which is Dracula. Maurice Hindle teaches at the Open University.

Customer Reviews

Truly exceptional piece of British literature
After being a fan of the now rather hammy looking Hammer Horror Dracula films in my youth I finally decided to buy the original novel and, to be honest, was startled at its brilliance.
It is dark, brooding and powerfully atmospheric - more so than any horror novel I have ever encountered. In its genre it is rightly regarded as one of the premiere pieces of literature of all time.
I would certainly rank it along with greats like Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility as one of the most outstanding reads in British history.
Everyone is familiar with the legend, but Stoker's original is so interesting in that it is written solely in the form of personal journals and press reports, rather than describing the actions as they happen.
Things start piecing themselves together gradually as readers can compare one piece of evidence from Dr Seward with the events of Mina Harker's life and the sad diary of Lucy Westenra.
This allows the reader to get closer than is usual to the characters, an environment that is truly gripping from beginning to end.
Quite simply it is a book that everyone should own and at this price it is an absolute steal.

Gripping, multi-layered novel retains the power to chill
Dracula may be an iconic figure in film and television, but his appeal is not diminished in print. This truly is a wonderful, absorbing read; I enjoyed it far more than I expected to. Stoker's prose is pleasantly easy to read (although the footnotes do come in handy for some of the more obscure references to medieval eastern European history).

The narrative is generally well-paced, only occasionally sagging under the weight of unnecessary scene-setting and backstory. It is told from a multitude of viewpoints with an almost postmodern attention to point-of-view distortions. This device also goes a considerable way towards breathing real life into the engaging characters.

The story is a familiar one, of course, particularly to anyone who has seen the 1992 film version. With Coppola's slightly salacious additions stripped away (Lucy is a giddy charmer here rather than a perpetually-tipsy flirt, for example), this is an often stark tale, redolent with folkloric eerieness, as fin-de-siecle scientific triumphalism battles vainly against an older, altogether darker set of laws.

However many versions of the story you've seen, _Dracula_ remains a surprisingly rich and unnerving read - all the richer, indeed, for the cultural resonance it has picked up since it was first published. We have seen Jonathan Harker reach his slow realisation of the true nature of the Count countless times, yet this knowing shiver only adds to the creeping unease when Harker first enters Dracula's castle.

This a gem of a novel, waiting to be rediscovered.

A Book With Real Bite.
The curtain twitches. Quickly you raise your eyes from the page - but there's nothing there. You were sure you saw something out the corner of your eye. A chilling breeze brushes your neck, making you shiver. Perhaps it was just your imagination? Perhaps.

Rest your eyes and sleep, it will be dark soon. Outside of your bedroom window, a fog is developing, it is an unusual fog, thick and grey.

An unnerving feeling in the pit of your stomach wrenches your eyes open on the stroke of midnight. Why did you wake? Did something wake you? You can't hear anything, but your pounding heart stops you returning to your uneasy slumber. You decide to read for a few minutes to unwind.

Fumbling in the dark of your room, you feel the hard spine of a book. You take it and reach for the light. It is 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker.

Erotic and romantic, yet deeply disturbing and horrifying. Stoker's work remains unequalled. Once you start reading, you will not stop until you have finished. Not only because the book is so fantastic, but because whilst your eyes remain glued to the page, you can't glance over your shoulder to see what might be sneaking up behind you.