The Lady of the Shroud

by Bram Stoker, Sarah E Maier

Overview

Old Roger Melton has died, leaving behind one of the greatest fortunes in Europe. His arrogant relative Ernest Melton expects to be the heir, but much to the family's surprise Roger leaves his vast estate to his obscure young nephew, Rupert Sent Leger. But Rupert's newfound wealth comes with strange conditions attached, one of which is that he must inhabit the old castle of Vissarion in the remote Balkan nation known as the Land of the Blue Mountains.

Rupert, an intrepid adventurer, agrees and travels to Vissarion with his Aunt Janet, who possesses the occult power of Second Sight. But all is not as it seems at Vissarion. Rupert finds himself visited by a ghostly woman clothed in a burial shroud who sleeps in a tomb. Haunted by her strange beauty, Rupert wonders whether she is a phantom, a vampire, or something else entirely. He is determined to solve this mystery, but the solution is even more dangerous than he could possibly imagine!

First published in a now scarce edition in 1909, The Lady of the Shroud is one of Stoker's most popular supernatural novels and a worthy successor to Dracula (1897). Often reprinted in severely abridged editions, The Lady of the Shroud returns to print in this new edition, containing the original unabridged text, together with a new introduction by Sarah E. Maier, annotations, the text of contemporary reviews, a chronology of Bram Stoker's life and works, a bibliography, and Stoker's important 1908 article "The Censorship of Fiction."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934555781
Publisher:	Valancourt Books
Publication date:	07/25/2012
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was an Irish novelist. Born in Dublin, Stoker suffered from an unknown illness as a young boy before entering school at the age of seven. He would later remark that the time he spent bedridden enabled him to cultivate his imagination, contributing to his later success as a writer. He attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1864, graduating with a BA before returning to obtain an MA in 1875. After university, he worked as a theatre critic, writing a positive review of acclaimed Victorian actor Henry Irving’s production of Hamlet that would spark a lifelong friendship and working relationship between them. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe before moving to London, where he would work for the next 27 years as business manager of Irving’s influential Lyceum Theatre. Between his work in London and travels abroad with Irving, Stoker befriended such artists as Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1895, having published several works of fiction and nonfiction, Stoker began writing his masterpiece Dracula (1897) while vacationing at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay, Scotland. Stoker continued to write fiction for the rest of his life, achieving moderate success as a novelist. Known more for his association with London theatre during his life, his reputation as an artist has grown since his death, aided in part by film and television adaptations of Dracula, the enduring popularity of the horror genre, and abundant interest in his work from readers and scholars around the world.