Publisher's Synopsis
Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years.Le Fanu presents the story as a part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him because of the first occult detective in literature.Laura, the teenage protagonist, narrates, beginning together with her childhood during a "picturesque and solitary" castle amid an in depth forest in Styria, where she lives together with her father, a wealthy English widower retired from service to the Austrian Empire. When she was six, Laura had a vision of a really beautiful visitor in her bedchamber. She later claims to possess been punctured in her breast, although no wound was found.Twelve years later, Laura and her father are admiring the sunset ahead of the castle when her father tells her of a letter from his friend, General Spielsdorf. the overall was alleged to bring his niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt, to go to the 2, but the niece suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. the overall ambiguously concludes that he will discuss the circumstances intimately once they meet later.Laura, saddened by the loss of a possible friend, longs for a companion. A carriage accident outside Laura's home unexpectedly brings a woman of Laura's age into the family's care. Her name is Carmilla. Both girls instantly recognize the opposite from the "dream" they both had once they were young.Carmilla appears injured after her carriage accident, but her mysterious mother informs Laura's father that her journey is urgent and can't be delayed. She arranges to go away her daughter with Laura and her father until she will return in three months. Before she leaves, she sternly notes that her daughter won't disclose any information whatsoever about her family, past, or herself, which Carmilla is of sound mind. Laura comments that this information seems needless to mention, and her father laughs it off.Carmilla and Laura grow to be very close friends, but occasionally Carmilla's mood abruptly changes. She sometimes makes romantic advances towards Laura. Carmilla refuses to inform anything about herself, despite questioning by Laura. Her secrecy isn't the sole mysterious thing about Carmilla; she never joins the household in its prayers, she sleeps much of the day, and she or he seems to sleepwalk outside in the dark.Meanwhile, young women and girls within the nearby towns have begun dying from an unknown malady. When the funeral procession of 1 such victim passes by the 2 girls, Laura joins within the funeral hymn. Carmilla bursts call at the rage and scold Laura, complaining that the hymn hurts her ears.When a shipment of restored heirloom paintings arrives, Laura finds a portrait of her ancestor, Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, dated 1698. The portrait resembles Carmilla exactly, right down to the mole on her neck. Carmilla suggests that she could be descended from the Karnsteins albeit the family died out centuries before.During Carmilla's stay, Laura has nightmares of an outsized cat-like beast entering her room. The beast springs onto the bed and Laura feels something like two needles, and in. or two apart, darting deep into her breast. The beast then takes the shape of a female figure and disappears through the door without opening it. In another nightmare, Laura hears a voice say, "Your mother warns you to watch out for the assassin," and a sudden light reveals Carmilla standing at the foot of her bed, her nightdress drenched blood. Laura's health declines and her father features a doctor to examine her. He finds a little blue spot, an in. or two below her collar, where the creature in her dream bit her, and speaks privately together with her father, only asking that Laura never be unattended.