Dracula

Title: Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker

Published in: 1897

Date read: 21st September 2004

Score: 5/5

Genre: Horror, Classic, Supernatural

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Dracula" by Bram Stoker is a seminal Gothic horror novel, famously told through an epistolary format, comprising journal entries, letters, telegrams, and newspaper clippings.

The story begins with Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, traveling to Transylvania to finalize a real estate transaction with a reclusive nobleman, Count Dracula. Harker's initial awe at the ancient castle and its polite, if unsettling, host soon turns to horror as he realises he is a prisoner and that Dracula is a powerful, ancient vampire with sinister intentions. Harker barely escapes with his life, mentally scarred by the ordeal.

Meanwhile, back in England, Jonathan's fiancée, Mina Murray, and her best friend, Lucy Westenra, are vacationing in Whitby. Lucy soon begins to suffer from a mysterious illness, characterised by severe blood loss and strange dreams. She is attended by three suitors: Dr. John Seward, a psychiatrist who runs a nearby asylum; Arthur Holmwood, a wealthy aristocrat to whom Lucy is engaged; and Quincey Morris, a brave American adventurer. Dr. Seward also calls upon his former teacher, the eccentric and brilliant Dutch professor Abraham Van Helsing, who quickly recognizes the true, terrifying nature of Lucy's affliction – she is being preyed upon by a vampire. Despite their best efforts, Lucy succumbs and transforms into an undead creature, preying on children.

Van Helsing, along with Arthur, Seward, and Quincey, is forced to kill Lucy's vampiric form to release her soul. As they uncover more evidence, they realise that Dracula has arrived in England and is responsible for Lucy's fate, and that he intends to spread his evil influence further, particularly targeting Mina.

The narrative then follows Van Helsing, Jonathan (who eventually returns, traumatised, to Mina), Mina, Dr. Seward, Arthur, and Quincey as they form a determined band to hunt down Dracula. They meticulously gather clues, tracking his movements through London, piecing together his history, and learning his weaknesses. Mina, with her exceptional organisational skills and newfound, terrifying psychic link to Dracula (formed after he forces her to drink his blood), becomes crucial to their efforts.

The climax of the novel sees the group pursue Dracula back to Transylvania, racing against time to destroy him before he can reach the safety of his castle. The hunt is a desperate battle against an ancient evil, testing their courage, their faith, and their scientific understanding. "Dracula" explores themes of good versus evil, sanity versus madness, the clash between archaic superstition and modern science, and the pervasive fear of the unknown and the foreign.

Comments:
As an avid reader of horror, it is wonderful to see places where it all started. You can't beat stories like this where it all started. This has it all and it is truly timeless.

Books that we've read by Bram Stoker (1):
Dracula (1897)