Carmilla

By Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Mint Editions

Carmilla (1872) is a novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Published twenty-six years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Le Fanu’s work of Gothic horror and mystery is considered an important early entry in the genre of vampire fiction.

Recorded in the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, a medical professional with a detective’s sensibility, is the story of Laura, a teenager bearing a strange secret. Raised in a castle by her father, a widower who recently concluded his career in service to the Austrian Empire, Laura has been haunted since her youth, when she was visited at night by a beautiful, spectral woman. Now eighteen, she awaits the visit of Bertha Rheinfelt, a niece of her father’s friend. When Bertha dies mysteriously, however, and when a girl named Carmilla is brought to the castle under strange circumstances, Laura fears that the past has come full circle. But she soon overcomes her mournful state, growing close with Carmilla. But the girl’s behavior soon proves unsettling. Carmilla is prone to sleepwalking, sleeps through the day, declines to participate in prayers, and makes romantic overtures to Laura. She begins to be haunted by strange and violent dreams, waking one night to discover Carmilla at the foot of her bed, and bite marks along her neck. Her father intervenes, taking her to a local village. On the way, they meet Bertha’s uncle, who shares the chilling details of her fate. It becomes clear that Carmilla, whoever she is, is far from the innocent young girl she claims to be.

This edition of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla is a classic of Irish literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Feb 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781513276632

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic horror. Born in Dublin, Le Fanu was raised in a literary family. His mother, a biographer, and his father, a clergyman, encouraged his intellectual development from a young age. He began writing poetry at fifteen and went on to excel at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied law and served as Auditor of the College Historical Society. In 1838, shortly before he was called to the bar, he began contributing ghost stories to Dublin University Magazine, of which he later became editor and proprietor. He embarked on a career as a writer and journalist, using his role at the magazine as a means of publishing his own fictional work. Le Fanu made a name for himself as a pioneer of mystery and Gothic horror with such novels as The House by the Churchyard (1863) and Uncle Silas (1864). Carmilla (1872), a novella, is considered an early work of vampire fiction and an important influence for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).

Book preview

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Reviews for Carmilla

[rekki-281232 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can imagine that this would have been a great book... back when it was initially written. The plot twist (Carmilla being a vampire) is simply SO obvious to the reader now that all of the mystery and suspense of the tale goes out the window. I found myself guilty of becoming irritated as I read because the characters were so oblivious, and then having to stop and remind myself that this was a brand new thing back in the day. That being said, if you can keep this fact in mind and give the book a chance it is not a terrible story. I would say that it still has some issues. The climax happens rather quickly and is a little less dramatic than one might hope after all of the lead up. I enjoyed the way that Carmilla chooses her targets and slowly lures them in. Enjoying the thrill of the hunt, having what seemed like romantic feelings for her victims, all very intriguing. I only wished that more time was spent focused on the title character rather than the humans she 'befriended'. My only other complaint was that the story leaves loose ends. Carmilla's mother as well as her driver were clearly described in a way that lets the reader know that they, too, were the same as Carmilla. At the end we are meant to believe that everyone is safe and things are fine, but no one ever remembers those vampires. We hear nothing of where they were going in such a hurry, nor do any of the characters seem worried despite how they feared Carmilla herself. It seemed very odd to me. All in all this was a good classic read, but falls short of my expectations here in modern times.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful vampire novella, with a real creepy, fantasy atmosphere, a key influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula a quarter of a century later. Great stuff. 5/5

[diana_long_thomas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I decided to listen to this because:1. I wanted to listen/read to at least one "scary" book in October. 2. It was suggested by my friend Giselle Bradley. 3. I hadn't read this book in years and wanted to see if I still liked the book as much as I did when I was younger.I still liked it but not as much as I did the first time. I picked up on the parts that make people claim it's the first book with a lesbian love affair, I believe I had read an abridged version when I was younger. It was a good book, I'm glad I took Giselle's advice to re-read it. I did drop it from a 5-star to a 4-star but I think that's because I'm a bit pickier when it comes to star ratings. I probably would have given it a 3 or a 3.5 if it wasn't for the narrator. I was lucky to find an audiobook that was narrated by Megan Follows, an actress who I love, so the rating got a bump because of that. It's a great spooky read for this time of year and something lovers of Gothic classics should read.

[matke-261098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An influential classic of the horror/vampire genre, Carmilla tells the story of a female vampire (but wait...what about the mother and the really pale servant) who preys solely on young women. There’s certainly a lesbian erotica undertone here. Nothing tediously overt, but you really can’t miss it. The narrator, Laura, is Carmilla’s main target, and her seduction of Laura is well-done and fairly compelling. Other young women in the area are falling ill and more or less wasting away, and finally Laura becomes ill.This is an early vampire tale, pre-dating the great Dracula. Many of the ideas and themes will occur again and again in later works by other authors.It was hard to rate this because so many vampire books have been written since this one. I’d give it three stars just on its own merits, but I’m jumping it up to four because of its long, long shadow in horror literature.

[montzaleew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

CarmillaBy: Joseph Sheridan Le FanuNarrated by: Phoebe Fox, Rose Leslie, David Tennant, David Horovitch, James Wilby, Susan Wooldridge, Hannah GenesiusThis was like listening to a great play with narration! Terrific narration, great suspense, characters, a bit of lust, supernatural creepiness, all combined with a wonderful plot.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Predating Dracula by 26 years, Le Fanu's novella is a classic vampire tale that gets a lot less attention than it should. It is loaded with Gothic atmosphere and also introduces a lesbian vampire theme that, while appropriately circumspect, is unmistakable and something that I never would have expected in a novella written in the 1870s.

[smat92 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I started reading this book for two challenges: The Fangtastic reading Challenge and The Gothic Novel Challenges.From a modern perspective, the book is pretty slow and predictable but still pulls through with some suspenseful scenes. I found the descriptions really helped with the eerie mood of the story, especially when describing Carmilla or the surroundings of the chateau.All in all, I see how this novel is considered one of the building blocks of the vampire lore and I recommend it to all gothic and vampire fanatics, if not everyone, seeing as this is a relatively fast read.

[porius_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

laura cannot believe that her strange night visitor is her friend Carmilla. but why is she so repelled? is there a horror concealed behind Carmilla's charming appearence? eceuile?

[bzedan_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a short and sweet classic vampire story, with a little subdued ladylovin'. The last couple of pages are kind of a distracted info dump, but the pace is good and the story better.

[jcbrunner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Austria gave the world the Terminator and nearly became the vampire motherland too. Bram Stoker at first had Dracula situated in Styria but, fortunately for Austria, switched to Transylvania. The inspiration of the Styrian location came from Le Fanu whose gothic short story about an Austrian lesbian vampire already covers many of the classic elements of vampire fiction. Similar to Stoker, Le Fanu still shows some uncertainty about the powers and restrictions of a vampire. In view of later works, the story is not without clumsy elements and a rather weak resolution. As a pioneering work, it remains highly readable. Englishmen abroad, beware of what your impressionable daughters do during the night.

[mmoj_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author of this story is an unnamed woman, a young lady at the time she writes the narrative who lives a relatively isolated life with her father. This father and daughter receive a charming pair of visitors, a mother and daughter. The mother must leave on urgent business but her daughter has been quite ill and the mother fears for her daughter's life so she makes an unusual request to the father who is a stranger to her - she asks if he will take her daughter and she will return in about a month's time. Surprisingly the father says yes mostly because his daughter is so taken with the girl. This book is considered a gothic novel and was ahead if it's time for talking about female vampires.

Considering how old this story is the language flowed smoothly and making it easy to get into the story. It's hard to believe in these modern times that this gothic story was considered scary or scandalous. Enjoyable, quick read.

[t1bnotown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this because it was one of the readings for my husband's "Vampires in Literature" class, and, although I thought I'd hate it from the slow beginning, it picked up considerably. The characters were so unwilling to believe the obvious, which I guess says something about how people considered themselves beyond superstition. I did not think it was a "lesbian" vampire tale- women kissed each other back then. I did find it interesting that Carmilla was able to be around in the sunlight.

[lgandt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Before Dracula there was Carmilla. An excellent way to spend a rainy evening if you want horror without gore.It was the first book to get under my skin so bad it actually gave me nightmares.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After my re-read of this classic, I would give Carmilla 3.5 stars.

I loved the atmosphere and the language, even if I thought it was a bit too flowery at times.

I know that it's wrong to judge a work of this age by today's standards, but man, everyone in this book seemed stupid and too naive to be believable. The whole time, I was thinking "My God, man, wake up!"

I'm glad I re-read this one but I think that shall be it for me with Carmilla.

[caanderson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great short story detailing the beginnings of vampires.

[moniquesnyman-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent! I loved every minute of this vampire classic. Certainly one of my favorite vampire reads of all time.

[philsyphe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this interesting rather than exciting, and eerie rather than scary. The tone is a little bland for the most part, which does nothing to build suspense.Although not devoid of drama, it is in short supply, owing to the passive narrative. Without giving anything away, the ending suffers because it’s written very dryly. In other words, it’s anti-climatic.I like the narrating character, though she lacks sparkle. Carmilla is my favourite character. Quite a good read, though I feel it had potential to be much better.

[alanteder · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Classic Vampire TaleReview of the Audible Audio dramatization (2015) of the 1872 originalThis was a sensationalized action-driven adaptation of the Sheridan Le Fanu story, but was still quite faithful to the original. The vocal performances were excellent, especially those of Rose Leslie as Laura and Phoebe Fox as Carmilla. Top-billed David Tennant performed the relatively minor Dr. Hesselius role.Carmilla was one of the free Audible Original audiobooks for members in October 2019.TriviaThe original Carmilla is part of the occult detective Dr. Hesselius casebook anthology In a Glass Darkly (1892) which is one of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

[kthxy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hmz. "Wäre es nur ein bisschen so geschrieben wie 'The Yellow Wallpaper', wäre es 70000x besser als Dracula", denke ich.

[aront-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Read" this by listening to B.J. Harrison's rendition on the Classic Tales Podcast - which I highly recommend. This is my first exposure to Le Fanu and I was impressed. I was surprised at his frank exploration of the lesbian themes, and at least until the end I felt he was using vampirism as a way to explore the psychological and social aspects of sexual "perversion" as it was seen in his time and culture. However the ending was a huge let down. It was as if a different author took over. The rich, dark and moody story morphed into a silly docudrama on vampires. I was waiting for one last dramatic confrontation with Carmilla but instead got a moralistic monotonic reporting of events which disengaged me from the story and its protagonists. Knowing how to end a good story is what differentiates the masters from the merely good. Le Fanu falls into the latter category, at least based on this. But it does inspire me to read Uncle Silas and to watch all the camp versions of Carmilla on film.

[purpledog-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this on audible and loved the performance. I give that 5 stars. I loved that the narrator works hard to portray the emotions in the character(s). The story was just OK for me. I know this is a novella, but there was no character development at all and I missed that. I give the story 3 stars. Therefore, when both scores are averaged together the total is 4 stars. I did feel that the narration improved the story. I don't know if I could have finished this book in physical format.

[the_hibernator · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the oldest vampire books ever written, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years. It is well read, creepy, and strangely modern despite its Victorian setting. I think the parallels between this story and Bram Stoker's Dracula are quite striking. They both have a vampire hunter tracing the movements of the abomination. Both vampires sneak in at night and attack the victim several times before death occurs. Carmilla turned into a large cat instead of a dog, as in Dracula, but both vampires slept in coffins. On the other hand, it's been a while since I've read Dracula, but I'm pretty certain he was unable to withstand sunlight, whereas Carmilla moved freely throughout the day. The parallels are likely due to use of the same primary sources of Slavic vampire folklore.

[birdo82 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A rare Victorian read that is short, crisp, and genuinely creepy.

[briarthorn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like vampire stories so I liked those story. I had to get used to Le Fanu's style of over description and the fact it is written in first person.


I've seen many claims that Carmilla is a lesbian love story, but it just doesn't read that way to me. While I think Carmilla was a lesbian the narrator, Laura, never seems to return any of the affection shown to her at least not as one lover to another.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book!

It's a beautiful, 17th century tale about a lesbian vampire.

WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

No, but seriously, I really enjoyed this book. It's creepy, it's thrilling, it's dark, it's well-written. It's sort of like what would happen if Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (sans the ultimate entitled prick of scientist, Victor Frankenstein) and Daphne du Maurier got together and made a gay horror baby.

I love seeing LGTIQA representation in this book. And it's really there, believe me, it's not just implied. I like that the whole environment is a character and it's quite a romantic, short little novella. The character of Carmilla is an incredible one, and this will be a firm favourite for a while to come.

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, I take my hat off to you. Thank you, sir.

[dustball-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the original vampire story to appear in English. It is written by the grand master of ghost stories (Le Fanu) and this book INSPIRED Braum Stoker to write Dracula. It's not a very long book, but it gets in your head and stays with you. This particular version has front and back matter that adds to the story without changing a word. Highly recommended.

[amydross · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, how did I never read this story before? I was surprised by how sophisticated and intoxicating it was, despite being one of the first vampire stories. Although, I have to say it seems that vampires must have been fairly well-known even before the publication of this story, as the author seems to assume among his readership a fair degree of familiarity with the concept.

[mrnattania72 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perfect for Halloween telling!!

[heatherheartsbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was pretty good. Author was overly fond of using commas, which could be both confusing and annoying at times. Creepy title character -- very cool. The story could've been fleshed out a little better. The book ended but I still had questions.

[madam_razz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I very much enjoyed this book. I read it in eBook form, but I think I might buy a print version just to have on my shelf. The book was first published in the 1800's and it shows in the writing style, but not so much as to be difficult to read or understand. I found it an easy, fast, entertaining and enthralling read from start to finish and I would definitely recommend it. I also absolutely loved the ending, which reminded me of the first few pages and had me really thinking even after I finished it. Definitely glad that my friend recommended me this book and I would absolutely recommend it to others.