The Virgin Vampire

By Etienne-Leon de Lamothe-Langon , Brian Stableford (translator) ,

Book cover of The Virgin Vampire

Book description

During one of Napoleon's military campaigns, Edouard Delmont, a young officer, promised to marry Alinska, a Hungarian girl. Back in France, he goes back on his vows and marries someone else. Several years later, Alinska suddenly reappears in his life, transformed into an avenging vampire. She threatens to kill his…

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Fantasy

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Virgin Vampire as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Tyler R. Tichelaar

Author

This little-known French vampire novel, published in 1825, includes the first fully realized female vampire. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, a young Hungarian woman, Alinska, mysteriously turns into a vampire after a French soldier pledges his love to her, then abandons her. After becoming a vampire, she travels to France where her husband Edouard is now remarried and has a family. Unable to stop herself, she preys upon Edouard’s family. The story is remarkable for creating the first sympathetic vampire and being the first to associate vampirism with Eastern Europe. Bram Stoker may have known it or similar French novels.…

From Tyler's list on classic French gothic you probably never heard of.