![]() ![]() ![]() I even found myself shedding a tear at the end. On the surface, it’s a gothic tale shrouded in death and desire, but in reality, It’s actually a tragic Victorian love story. Is it just an unfortunate coincidence, or is Harriet harbouring a dark secret?Īlthough titled ‘ Blood’ of the Vampire, there is no actual blood in the book and instead the ‘blood’ is a reference to Harriet’s family tree and what she has unfortunately inherited from her parents. ![]() Shortly before her 21st birthday, she wed Thomas Ross Church, an officer in the Madras staff corps of the British Army in India they spent the first seven years of their married life traveling India. For afficionados of the aforementioned titles that is a compelling argument in itself. Published in 1897 (the same year as its more famous counterpart, Bram Stoker’s Dracula ), Florence Marryat’s The Blood of the Vampire has been recently rediscovered as a significant contribution to nineteenth-century vampire fiction. Marryat's parents separated when she was young her childhood was divided between her parents' residences, where she was privately educated. ![]() But everyone she comes close to becomes ill and dies. Florence Marryat is the daughter of the captain of the same name, Frederick Marryat, author of several childhood treasures, The Children of the New Forest and Mr Midshipman Easy. Orphaned and alone with an attractive fortune, she attempts to mix with other ladies of high society and hopefully find a friend. Miss Harriet Brandt leaves her Jamaican home to pursue a life of her own. Wow, I LOVED this book! Huge thanks to the Gothic peeps of bookstagram for introducing it to me! “ The poor child saw her destiny entangling her as in a net – she longed to break through it, but saw no means of escape – and she rebelled against the cultural lot that heredity had marked out for her” ~ Florence Marryat, The Blood of the Vampire. ![]()
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