The Lady of the Shroud

What It's About

Rupert Sent Leger, the black sheep of his family, learns that his late uncle has left him a vast fortune on one condition: he must live for a year in a remote castle in the Land of the Blue Mountains, a small fictional state in the Balkans. There he is visited at night by Teuta Vissarion, a beautiful woman dressed only in a burial shroud, who is believed by the local people to be a vampire. As Rupert falls under her spell, he is drawn into the politics of a country threatened by powerful neighbours, and the story mixes gothic suspense, romance, adventure and even early aerial warfare. The novel is told through letters, diary entries and other documents, mostly from Rupert's point of view.

Key Concepts

The book draws on vampire legend and the tension between supernatural belief and rational explanation, while also dealing with inheritance, duty and national survival. Its epistolary form echoes Stoker's earlier success, and it has been compared with that book ever since. Critics often find it more plot-driven than character-driven, with one-dimensional characters and a mixture of genres that doesn't always hold together. Others enjoy it for its atmospheric opening and its brisk, unusual blend of gothic and modern adventure.

About the Author

Bram Stoker (1847–1912) was an Irish novelist and theatre manager, born in Dublin. He spent much of his working life as business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, and wrote fiction alongside that career.