Carmilla

First serialized in 1872 and collected in In a Glass Darkly, Carmilla is the foundational vampire story of English literature and a direct influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Narrated by young Laura, it unfolds in an isolated castle where a mysterious guest arrives after a carriage accident and forms an intense, possessive bond with her host. Le Fanu fuses gothic dread with an unmistakable erotic charge — an atmosphere of languor, longing, and slow horror that has made Carmilla a touchstone of both vampire fiction and queer literature. This edition presents the complete sixteen-chapter text with Doctor Hesselius's framing prologue.