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Reading lists

Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

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Beautiful horror books from our Clothbound Classics collection

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Children's reading lists

8 of the best Irish children’s books and authors

An image of the Puffin Clothbound Classics book Dracula by Bram Stoker on a dark blue background with bats and angry eyes. There is also a little yellow flag that says '125 years'

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Extracts

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The essential Halloween reading list in 10 books 

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10 terrifying classic tales to read

Dracula's original title, 'The Undead'. Photo: The Bram Stoker Estate

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Features

5 fascinating and unknown facts uncovered from Bram Stoker’s vaults

Dracula's Guest

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847-1912) was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and joined the Irish Civil Service before his love of theatre led him to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail. He went on to act as as manager and secretary for the actor Sir Henry Irving, while writing his novels, the most famous of which is Dracula.

Step into the night where tombs lie open and wolves prowl under a cursed moon 
 
A solitary traveller strays from the road on the eve of Walpurgis Night. Snow closes in, strange figures emerge, and an abandoned tomb offers shelter. But what begins as a detour becomes a brush with something far older and more deadly. Dracula’s Guest gathers Bram Stoker’s eerie short fiction, steeped in dread and foreboding – four tales that explore the thin line between the rational world and the shadows that constantly close in on it. 
 
Include the stories: Dracula’s Guest, The Judge’s House, The Squaw, The Burial of the Rats 
 
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

The Burial of the Rats

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books 
 
The bones were still warm; but they were picked clean. They had even eaten their own dead 
 
This spine-chilling collection from Dracula creator Bram Stoker showcases five haunting tales, including the newly discovered ‘Gibbet Hill’. From ‘Dracula’s Guest’, thought by many to be the original excised opening of Dracula itself, to the sinister ‘The Judge’s House,’ each gripping story will leave you breathless, perhaps afraid to turn out the lights. Dare you explore the darkness?

The bones were still warm; but they were picked clean. They had even eaten their own dead 
 
This spine-chilling collection from Dracula creator Bram Stoker showcases five haunting tales, including the newly discovered ‘Gibbet Hill’. From ‘Dracula’s Guest’, thought by many to be the original excised opening of Dracula itself, to the sinister ‘The Judge’s House,’ each gripping story will leave you breathless, perhaps afraid to turn out the lights. Dare you explore the darkness?

Dracula

A Transylvanian castle, a ruthless count and the classic vampire story that changed everything. This beautiful deluxe gift edition presents Bram Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece in a hardback with foiled covers, marbled endpaper, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and a silk ribbon. Solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania and slowly realises that his host is no ordinary nobleman. Back in England, Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra, Dr Seward, Van Helsing and their friends confront a predatory force that moves through dreams and desire. Told through journals, letters and records, Dracula turns investigation into terror as the hunt leads back toward the Count’s homeland. A defining vampire novel and a classic work of Gothic horror, Dracula is perfect for readers looking for supernatural fiction, epistolary storytelling, haunted castles, monster hunters and beautifully produced classics.

This most iconic character still unleashes the mind’s deepest, darkest fears

Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin on 8 November 1847. He graduated in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin in 1867 and then worked as a civil servant. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe. He later moved to London and became business manager of his friend Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. He wrote several sensational novels including novels The Snake's Pass (1890), Dracula (1897), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). Bram Stoker died on 20 April 1912.

A beautiful deluxe gift edition of Bram Stoker's terrifying gothic novel, the book that invented the world's most famous vampire, complete with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. 
 
A young lawyer on an assignment finds himself imprisoned in a Transylvanian castle by his mysterious host. Back at home his fiancée and friends are menaced by a malevolent force which seems intent on imposing suffering and destruction. Can the devil really have arrived on England's shores? And what is it that he hungers for so desperately? 
 
This hardback is part of VINTAGE COLLECTOR’S CLASSICS, a series of luxurious books especially crafted for collectors and fans of beautiful special editions. Sumptuous design meets the highest quality production. Discover timeless classics beautifully bound for every bookshelf.

A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Gothic Imagination: Dracula, Frankenstein & more

A chilling collection of classic gothic horror and ghost stories adapted or written by women 
 
In this breathtaking collection of gothic horror and eerie tales, draw the curtains and pull the blankets close for two classic Victorian horror tales in new adaptations, Dracula starring Nicky Henson, Charles Edwards, Don Gilet and Ellie Kendrick and Frankenstein, with Jamie Parker (Harry Potter) as Frankenstein and Shaun Dooley (Gentleman Jack, Broadchurch) as the Monster. Next is a thrilling drama about the scandalous Mary Shelley and Lord Byron in Bloody Poetry. In the sensational psycho-sexual thriller The Mysteries of Udolpho with Robert Glenister (Suspicion, Spooks), a young woman is trapped in a castle of nightmares and villains. But who can she trust? 
 
Four spine-chilling dramatised tales follow: The Cold Embrace, where a handsome artist makes a terrible mistake, Man-size in Marble, in which newly-weds must face a horrifying truth, Afterward sees a couple paying the price for an unexpected windfall, and The Demon Lover, featuring Jenny Howe (Silent Witness, Eastenders) about a woman struggling home through the Blitz. 
 
Finally, two of Mary Shelley's finest short stories, 'The Mortal Immortal '- when a young apprentice drinks a potion to cure his heartbreak but discovers a feeling far worse - and 'Rodger Dodworth: The Reanimated Englishman' - where a man is woken after 170 years encased in ice. 
 
Cast and credits 
 
Dracula 
Written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz 
Story written by Bram Stoker 
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 14 October 2012 
 
Frankenstein 
Dramatised by Lucy Catherine 
Written by Mary Shelley 
Directed by Marc Beeby 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 28 October - 4 November 2012 
 
Bloody Poetry 
Written by Howard Brenton 
Adapted by Alison Hindell 
Directed by Alison Hindell 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 20 October 2012 
 
The Mysteries of Udolpho 
Written by Ann Radcliffe 
Dramatised by Catherine Czerkawska 
Directed by David Blount 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 13 October - 24 October 1996 
 
The Cold Embrace 
Written by Mary Braddon 
Produced by Marion Nancarrow 
Directed by Christopher Hawes 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26 July 1997 
 
Man-size in Marble 
Written by Edith Nesbit 
Produced by Marion Nancarrow 
Dramatised by Christopher Hawes 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 17 November 1997 
 
Afterward 
Written by Edith Wharton 
Produced by Marion Nancarrow 
Directed by Christopher Hawes 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 24 November 1997 
 
The Demon Lover 
Written by Elizabeth Bowen 
Produced by Marion Nancarrow 
Directed by Christopher Hawes 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 17 July 1997 
 
'The Mortal Immortal' 
Written by Mary Shelley 
Produced by Gemma Jenkins 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 3 December 2005 
 
'Rodger Dodworth: The Reanimated Englishman' 
Written by Mary Shelley 
Produced by John Cardy 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 24 May 1982 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A BBC Radio 4 reading starring Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender stars in this multi-voice reading of Bram Stoker’s legendary tale

Bram Stoker (Author) 
Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin on 8 November 1847. He graduated in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin in 1867 and then worked as a civil servant. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe. He later moved to London and became business manager of his friend Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. He wrote several sensational novels including novels The Snake's Pass (1890), Dracula (1897), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). Bram Stoker died on 20 April 1912.

Studying Dracula: The Complete Text and Revision Guide

Plug in and prepare for your A-Level English Literature examination with this comprehensive audio study guide to Dracula. 
 
Includes the entire, unabridged audio narration of Dracula, as well as in-depth analysis on the text, covering the key areas of: Characters, Themes, Structure and Form, Genre and Historical Context - as well as detailed chapter summaries and key quotations for your exam. 
 
This audio study guide covers the core assessment objectives of the A Level syllabus. This will give students studying these texts a strong foundation from which they can build their understanding, engage with other critical commentary and draw connections to other literary texts. Students will learn how to: 
 
- articulate informed and creative responses to the text through the exploration of themes and key ideas (AO1) 
 
- analyse writers' craft to uncover the ways in which writers convey meaning in the text (AO2) 
 
- appreciate the influence and significance of the contexts which shaped the writing and reception of the text (AO3)

Dracula (BBC Tie-in edition)

The official tie-in edition of Bram Stoker's iconic vampire novel, accompanying the BBC series with a foreword by producers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat

“We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.” 
 
Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel tells the story of English lawyer Jonathan Harker. Travelling to Transylvania to meet his reclusive client, Count Dracula, Harker soon discovers Dracula’s true nature: he is a centuries-old monster with an insatiable appetite for blood! Sensing new opportunities to spread his vampire curse, Dracula sets his sights on England. Ranged against him, the wily Professor Van Helsing and a dedicated band of young men and women. But who – living, dead or undead – can stop him? 
 
Accompanying the new BBC series from Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, creators of Sherlock, starring Claes Bang as Count Dracula. This Tie-in edition will introduce a whole new generation of fans to the wonders of Stoker's original novel.

Discover our collectable Puffin Clothbound Classic edition of Dracula 
 
Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable gift editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - including this dazzling edition of Dracula. 
 
Jonathan Harker is travelling to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, Count Dracula. He is begged by locals not to go there, because on the eve of St George's Day, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will come full sway. But business must be done, so Jonathan makes his way to the Castle - and then his nightmare begins. His beloved wife Meena and other lost souls have fallen under the Count's horrifying spell. Dracula must be destroyed... 
 
Collect our Puffin Clothbound Classics: 
9780241444313 The Little Prince 
9780241663554 The Jungle Book 
9780241568811 Charlotte's Web 
9780241688243 Little Women 
9780241688250 Peter Pan 
9780241688267 The Railway Children 
9780241688236 Chinese Cinderella 
9780241411216 Treasure Island 
9780241411209 The Wizard of Oz 
9780241655702 Watership Down 
9780241663578 The Worst Witch 
9780241663547 David Copperfield 
9780241663561 The Neverending Story 
9780241623909 Stig of the Dump 
9780241623916 The Dark is Rising 
9780241411162 The Secret Garden 
9780241411148 Black Beauty 
9780241411155 Dracula 
9780241425121 Frankenstein 
9780241425138 Wuthering Heights 
9780241425114 Tales from Shakespeare 
9780241425107 Tales of the Greek Heroes 
9780241411193 A Christmas Carol 
9780241621196 Grimms' Fairy Tales 
9780241425145 Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable hardback editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - including this dazzling edition of Dracula. 
 
Jonathan Harker is travelling to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, Count Dracula. He is begged by locals not to go there, because on the eve of St George's Day, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will come full sway. But business must be done, so Jonathan makes his way to the Castle - and then his nightmare begins. His beloved wife Meena and other lost souls have fallen under the Count's horrifying spell. Dracula must be destroyed...

Abridged Edition

Penguin Readers Level 3: Dracula (ELT Graded Reader)

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. 
 
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. 
 
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. 
 
Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys. 
 
 
Jonathan Harker visits a castle in Transylvania to help a man named Count Dracula to buy a house in England. While he is there, he discovers many terrible things about the count. As strange things begin to happen in England, Jonathan sees that Count Dracula must be stopped!

With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
 
Dracula, a Level 3 Reader, is A2 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to three clauses, introducing first conditional, past continuous and present perfect simple for general experience. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages. 
 
Jonathan Harker visits a castle in Transylvania to help a man named Count Dracula to buy a house in England. While he is there, he discovers many terrible things about the count. As strange things begin to happen in England, Jonathan sees that Count Dracula must be stopped!

Starring David Suchet and Tom Hiddleston

David Suchet and Tom Hiddleston star in Liz Lochhead's powerful adaptation of the classic novel by Bram Stoker.

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel, Dracula. Liz Lochhead (born 26 December 1947) is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland.

Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager) stars as Jonathan Harker with David Suchet (Poirot) as Dracula in Liz Lochhead and John Foley's powerful BBC radio adaptation of the classic novel by Bram Stoker. 
 
When solicitor Jonathan Harker sets off for Transylvania to sell the mysterious Count Dracula a Gothic mansion, his bride-to-be Mina begs him to stay – to no avail. 
 
But on arrival at Dracula's castle, deep in a black forest surrounded by wolves, Harker wishes he had listened to his fiancée. The Count is welcoming but unnerving, and his castle oppressive. Plagued by nightmares, Harker soon longs to leave... 
 
Back in Whitby, Mina is increasingly worried. She has heard nothing from Jonathan, and now her sister Lucy – newly engaged to Harker's friend, Dr Seward – is becoming pale and thin. In Seward's lunatic asylum in London, a madman named Renfield babbles about his master who is coming. And as a midnight storm rages, a black ship heads towards the English coast... 
 
Acclaimed poet and playwright Liz Lochhead's adaptation was first performed on stage in 1985, and this thrilling radio drama was broadcast on the World Service in 2006. Suspenseful, chilling and suffused with dark eroticism, it retains all the eerie dread of Stoker's infamous horror novel. Duration: 2 hrs approx.

Ladybird Classics: Dracula

This Ladybird Classic is an abridged retelling of the classic vampire tale of Dracula by Bram Stoker. A perfect introduction to the well-loved legend, it is ideal for adults to read with children, or for newly confident readers to tackle alone. Please note that due to some scary parts in places, content may not be suitable for very young or sensitive readers. 
 
Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania for what he thinks is a simple business meeting with a new client. Instead, he encounters the strange and sinister Count Dracula. There will be a battle between good and evil, but who will prevail? 
 
Beautiful new illustrations throughout and a gorgeous larger format with ribbon marker bring the excitement of this classic story to a new generation of children.

This Ladybird Classic is an abridged retelling of the classic tale of Dracula by Bram Stoker. A perfect introduction to the well-loved legend, it is ideal for adults to read with children, or for newly confident readers to tackle alone. Please note that due to some scary parts in places, content may not be suitable for very young or sensitive readers. 
 
Beautiful new illustrations throughout and a gorgeous larger format with ribbon marker bring the excitement of this classic story to a new generation of children.

The original vampire story - Dracula is still guaranteed to horrify

Dracula is about how suffocating Victorian times were. The bonus is, you get vampires!

Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin on 8 November 1847. He graduated in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin in 1867 and then worked as a civil servant. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe. He later moved to London and became business manager of his friend Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. He wrote several sensational novels including novels The Snake's Pass (1890), Dracula (1897), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). Bram Stoker died on 20 April 1912.

‘I am Dracula. And I bid you welcome to my house’ 
 
He is deathly pale. His fingernails are cut to sharp points. His teeth protrude menacingly from his mouth in clouds of rancid breath… Yet even Count Dracula’s unnerving appearance and the frightened reaction of the local peasants fail to warn Jonathan Harker, a young man from England, about his host. Little does Jonathan know that this is a land where babies are snatched for their blood and wolves howl menacingly from the forest, where reality is far more frightening than superstition. What’s more, it’s going to be up to him to stop the world’s most bloodthirsty predator… 
 
Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can learn all about the strengths and weaknesses of vampires! 
 
 Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847 - 1912) was a sickly child, unable to stand until he was seven years old, and spent the majority of his childhood reading before defying the odds by becoming a champion athlete at Trinity College, Dublin. Starting his career as an Irish civil servant, his love of theatre led him to become an unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail and later manager and secretary for the famous actor Sir Henry Irving. He also wrote a dozen books, of which Dracula (1897) is without doubt the most famous. An immediate bestseller in Victorian England, Stoker's masterpiece of the macabre has remained popular ever since, as testified by the countless film adaptations of the novel.

The Penguin English Library Edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker 
 
'Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window' 
 
A chilling masterpiece of the horror genre, Dracula also illuminated dark corners of Victorian sexuality. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to advise Count Dracula on a London home, he makes a horrifying discovery. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the arrival of his 'Master', while a determined group of adversaries prepares to face the terrifying Count. 
 
The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Stop What You’re Doing and Read…After Dark: Ghost Stories & Dracula

M.R JAMES' GHOST STORIES &amp; DRACULA: Spine-tingling stories of the strange and supernatural to thrill you from the witching hour until the dead of night...

M.R. JAMES' GHOST STORIES - A gnawing sense of unease, a steady accumulation of sounds, shadows and images finally meet in a single moment of sensational physical horror'

Bram Stoker's Dracula remains central to contemporary vampire myths

Montague Rhodes James was born on 1 August 1862 near Bury St Edmunds, and he spent long periods of his later life in Suffolk, which provided the setting for many of his ghost stories. He studied at Eton and Kings College, Cambridge, where he was eventually elected Fellow, and then made Provost in 1905. In 1918 he became Provost of Eton. He was a renowed medievalist and biblical scholar, and published works on palaeography, antiquarianism, bibliography and history and guides to Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as editing a collection of ghost stories by Sheridan Le Fanu. However, he remains best known for his own ghost stories, which were published in several collections, including Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), A Thin Ghost and Other Stories (1919), A Warning to the Curious (1925) and a collected edition in 1931. M. R. James never married and died on 12 June 1936. 
 
Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin on 8 November 1847. He graduated in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin in 1867 and then worked as a civil servant. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe. He later moved to London and became business manager of his friend Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. He wrote several sensational novels including novels The Snake's Pass (1890), Dracula (1897), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). Bram Stoker died on 20 April 1912.

To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books. 
 
M.R. JAMES' GHOST STORIES 
SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY RUTH RENDELL 
M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense. 
 
DRACULA 
'The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key in the lock; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt...I shall not remain alone with them. I may find a way from this dreadful place, away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!' 
Young lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business for a mysterious Count. Months later in England, beautiful Lucy Westenra falls ill and dies, inexplicably, as if from a severe loss of blood. Lucy's friends, including Jonathan's fiancée Mina and the intrepid doctor Van Helsing, must begin a desperate battle against a powerful, ancient evil, in Bram Stoker's definitive gothic tale.

Dracula (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847 - 1912) was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and joined the Irish Civil Service before his love of theatre led him to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail. He went on to act as as manager and secretary for the actor Sir Henry Irving, while writing his novels, the most famous of which is Dracula.

The acclaimed Couture Classics with cover designs by Ruben Toledo have become collector's items in the worlds of literature, fashion, design, and popular culture. Now, Toledo's signature style graces the covers of three new Deluxe Editions of gothic literature greats - Jane Eyre, Dracula, and The Picture of Dorian Gray-capturing the haunting beauty, sensual horror, and decadence of these iconic tales. 
 
Perfect additions to the first set of Couture Classics: Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and The Scarlet Letter.

Penguin Classics

[Coralie Bickford-Smith's] recent work for Penguin Classics is...nothing short of glorious

One of the most powerful horror tales ever written

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design 
 
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival. In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

Frederick Jaeger and Phyllis Logan star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel.

Frederick Jaeger and Phyllis Logan star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel.   Summoned to the forbidding heart of the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania, Jonathan Harker journeys to Castle Dracula. There he becomes the unwitting prisoner of a mysterious nobleman whom local legend suggests is Nosferatu, the vampire, a night-stalking beast whose immortality depends on the slaking of his insatiable thirst for human blood.   Able to transform himself at will into the shape of a wolf or bat, the evil Count sets sail for England on the scent of new and corruptible flesh. Meanwhile, Harker’s fiancée, Mina, is staying in Whitby when a great storm brings a shipwreck to the town. Suddenly Mina’s friend falls terribly ill. Could her fate be connected to what Harker found in Transylvania? As Count Dracula’s terrible secret is unearthed by the vampire hunter Van Helsing, a breathtaking chase across Europe ensues...   With specially composed music and sound effects, this terrifying adaptation ably captures the atmosphere of brooding fear and dark eroticism present in Stoker’s original novel.

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

The most famous vampire story ever written, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) has enthralled generations of readers as completely as Count Dracula enthrals his victims.

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 - 20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned. 
Bram Stoker died at No 26 St George's Square in 1912. He was cremated and his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders Green Crematorium. His son, Noel Stoker's ashes were added to that urn. To visit Bram Stoker's remains at Golders Green, visitors must be escorted to the room the urn is housed in for fear of vandalism

Though Stoker did not invent vampires - and in fact based his character's life-in-death on extensive research into European folklore - his novel elevated the nocturnal monster to iconic stature, spawning a genre of stories and movies which flourishes to this day. A century of imitation has done nothing to diminish its power. As the suave and chilling Count stalks his prey from a crumbling castle in the Carpathians to a lunatic asylum in Purfleet and the bedrooms of his swooning female victims, the drama builds to a fever pitch of sensuality and suspense. 
Dracula is not only a classic of Gothic horror and a wellspring of modern mythology: it is also irresistible entertainment.

The Lair of the White Worm

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was born in Ireland and attended Trinity College in Dublin. He joined the Irish Civil Service, then became involved in the theater. He wrote seventeen books.

An ancient evil walks among them. 
 
When Adam Salton arrives at his grand-uncle&rsquo;s Derbyshire estate he quickly senses that a macabre and malevolent force is at work. In his attempts to uncover the grisly mystery he encounters the chilling Lady Arabella and the obsessive Edgar Caswall, each harbouring their own dark and dreadful desires. 
 
To his horror, Adam discovers that something hideous is living in the grounds of nearby Castra Regis, something that feeds on the flesh of humans. And so begins a terrifying quest to destroy the evil lurking in their midst ...

The Jewel of Seven Stars

New to Classics - a spine-chilling Gothic novel from the master of the macabre

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847-1912) was best known for his vampire novel Dracula(1897). His other works include The Mystery of the Sea (1902), The Jewel of the Seven Stars (1903), The Man (1905) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911). 
 
 
Kate Hebblethwaite is a Research Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin. She has published a number of articles on popular fiction authors of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

A mysterious attack on Margaret Trelawney&rsquo;s father brings young lawyer Malcolm Ross into the Egyptologist&rsquo;s bizarre home, and the couple soon find they are battling ancient forces greater than they previously could have imagined. The Egyptian queen Tera has been awoken, and is coming to take what she believes to be hers &ndash; whatever the cost to the Trelawney family. Set in London and Cornwall, and written at a time when a fascination with the East pervaded Victorian England, The Jewel of Seven Stars reflected the perceived contrast between the Orient&rsquo;s savagery and moral degradation, and its exotic beauty and opulence.

Bram Stoker

Robert Eggers

Karen Winstead

Penguin Speculative Fiction Special

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his 'master'. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries – led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing – Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. 
 
A Penguin Classics hardback edition, with a Foreword by Robert Eggers and an Introduction by Karen Winstead.

Bram Stoker

Books by Bram Stoker

Series by Bram Stoker

Penguin Speculative Fiction Special

Articles featuring Bram Stoker

Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

Beautiful horror books from our Clothbound Classics collection

8 of the best Irish children’s books and authors

Dracula by Bram Stoker

10 terrifying classic tales to read

5 fascinating and unknown facts uncovered from Bram Stoker’s vaults

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