Dracula in Love

Author’s Notes

My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy of them?”

“A brave man’s blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble.”

Bram Stoker wrote these lines and many like them in his novel Dracula without a trace of irony. Today, the text is often read as a cautionary tale against the unbridling of female sexuality at the end of the nineteenth century. In this vein, I wanted to turn the original story inside out and expose its underbelly or its “subconscious mind,” by illuminating the cultural fears, as well as the rich brew of myths and lore, that went into Stoker’s creation.

At the time Dracula was written, while some women were taking to the streets for emancipation, the majority clung feverishly to Victorian ideals of purity and piety, which were considered the norm. I chose to portray Dr. Seward’s asylum as it would have been-not with an insect-eating madman but full of female patients incarcerated for what we today would consider normal sexual appetites. My portraits of the asylum’s cases are largely taken from original late-nineteenth-century physicians’ notes in the archives of Bethlem Royal Hospital, once known as Bedlam. (The obvious exceptions are Von Helsinger’s experiment to improve the female sex through the transfusion of male blood, and the inference that Lucy and Vivienne died of hemolytic reactions from receiving incompatible blood types.)

I experienced two extraordinary coincidences in conducting my research. I had set the place of Mina’s birth as Sligo before I discovered that Stoker’s mother was born there and had raised her son on its ghost stories and folklore. Secondly, I had fabricated the character of a journalist who had been Mina’s school chum and named her Julia Reed long before I read in Stoker’s notes that he had toyed with including a character named Kate Reed who was to be Mina’s friend. Stoker’s original setting for Dracula’s home was Styria, and I decided to use that location, if only to remind vampire fans that the Count’s Transylvanian origin was Stoker’s invention, and that he entertained other possibilities.

The vampire that sprang from Bram Stoker’s mind has subsequently spawned hundreds of variations. I wanted to illuminate the historical and mythological sources for the creature that so ignited my childhood imagination, while revisiting the lost landscape of female magical power that clearly informed Stoker’s tale and shaped vampire lore. My fond hope is that both readers and the eternal essence of Mr. Stoker, whom I revere for his ingenious work, will take the book in the spirit of fun and adventure in which it was written.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank not only those who helped with this novel but everyone who continues to make my literary life possible. At Doubleday, Bill Thomas and Alison Callahan gave me room to venture into new territory, and Alison, with her sure hand, keen instincts, and collaborative spirit, wrestled with and for me in its creation. I appreciate the genuine enthusiasm and creative thinking of Todd Doughty and Adrienne Sparks, and also of Russell Perrault and Lisa Weinert at Vintage/Anchor. I thank creative director John Fontana for giving me beautiful books; Nora Reichard for her patience and diligence; and the support I receive from everyone on the staffs. I am blessed to call Doubleday and Vintage/Anchor my publishers.

Amy Williams in New York, and Jennie Frankel and Nicole Clemens in Los Angeles, are not only representatives but creative partners and loyal friends. I would be lost without this triumvirate of dynamic women.

In London, Katie Hickman opened up her home, family, and community of friends to me and made many things possible. Caroline Kellett-Fraysse has been a true companion in the search for all things esoteric. On that side of the pond longtime friends Virginia Field, Elaine Sperber, and Nick Manzi keep me royally entertained and keep my spirits high.

For fifteen years, Bruce Feiler (“Council of Bruce”) has listened to my ambitions and concerns and has put his considerable energy into helping me shape my writing life and career. Michael Katz is always willing to support in every way. Beverly Keel injects razor sharp humor and warmth when I need it most. C. W. Gortner is the compassionate listener and collaborative friend on the other end of the phone. My brother, Richard, reads everything I write with enthusiasm, a red pen, and a Jesuit education. My mom and stepfather alienate strangers and friends by shamelessly promoting me.

In Los Angeles, I depend upon eternal optimists Vince Jordan and Jayne McKay for long, soulful conversations, and the more cynical humor of Keith Fox, purveyor of excellent food and wine, and provider of airline tickets to exotic locations. My daughter, Olivia, has the true spirit of a Muse, and continues to inspire and inform my characters. For her tremendous bravery and her resilience, it is to her that I dedicate this novel.

Karen Essex

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