Mina's Child

by Paul Butler

Overview

Mina's Child imagines a second generation springing from the "heroes"' in Bram Stoker's Dracula. In 1921, Mina and Jonathan Harker's daughter, Abree, a student at King's College, London, starts to question the extraordinary adventures her parents claim to have experienced in England and the Carpathians. Middle-aged Jonathan Harker is haunted by nightmares that Abree assumes to be about her brother, Quincey, killed in the Great War. As the Harkers follow the thread of their unease back to its source, they are haunted by memories of Lucy Westenra, fiancée to Arthur Holmwood, and the manner of Lucy's death. Having lost her brother, Quincey, in the Great War, Abree refuses to believe in a clear dividing line between good and evil. Abree suspects her parents' tales of glory hide a profound sense of guilt, particularly about the unexplained death of their friend, Lucy Westenra. The Harkers' maid, Jenny, it transpires, has reasons of her own to worry about the chaos in her employer's household. She is carrying Jonathan's child, but Harker plans to evade all such responsibilities. Jenny, suddenly unleashed as a destructive force against the household, decides to make the Harkers face their hypocrisy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771337229
Publisher:	Inanna Publications
Publication date:	05/25/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	730 KB

About the Author

Paul Butler is the author of ten novels, most recently The Widow’s Fire (2017). Butler’s work has appeared on the judges’ lists of Canada Reads, the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards shortlists, and he was on the Relit Longlist for three consecutive years. Between 2003 and 2008, he won in the annual Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Awards four times and was subsequently invited to be first literary representative and then chair on the Arts and Letters committee. He lives in Lethbridge, Alberta. His website is www.paulbutlernovelist.wordpress.com

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Editorial Reviews

"Paul Butler has turned the Dracula myth inside out, exposing the convenient lies of foreign evil and women's demonic sexuality. A compelling look at how false stories become our own undoing—and just a fantastic read."
—Leslie Vryenhoek, author of We All Will Be Received

"In Mina's Child, Paul Butler takes a fresh look at the familiar story of Bram Stoker's Dracula, pulling the characters into the twentieth century and re-examining the tale under the critical gaze of a new generation. Through the eyes of Abree Harker we see the old story in a new and harsher light, uncovering a tale that is, in some ways, perhaps more chilling than gothic horror. Readers will find it hard to forget Mina's Child
—Trudy Morgan Cole, author of A Roll of the Bones

From the Publisher