“The whole wreck heaves, and then the two men are lifting something from within. A body in white, soaked through with rainwater, her long chestnut hair streaming free from her limp head like a flag of a wrecked ship.
Darkness rises all around me, and I sink to the earth.”
Kat Dunn, Hungerstone, pg. 27
I don’t know how many of you have watched the Nosferatu (2024) remake, directed by Robert Eggers, but I certainly did—it’s how I rang in my new year. Gothic horror has always fascinated me. The vampire is crawling its way back into books, movies, and TV! However, some people may not know that before Nosferatu, before Dracula, there was Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Carmilla: the original vampire story of female sexuality, and the bloodcurdling fear of it.
Lenore is a good wife and a proper woman. She’s not hysterical and overwrought, like those of her sex. Despite the violent carriage accident in her youth that orphaned her, Lenore crawled her way to the top, marrying steel magnate Henry. She has never once cracked. In charge of running a household, Lenore thus has little time to devote to wondering why Henry doesn’t come to her chambers at night anymore.
Abruptly, Henry announces they will be hosting a shooting party on the 12th of August at the crumbling Nethershaw estate. En route to the desolate moors, Lenore and Henry happen upon an overturned carriage holding one battered Carmilla Kernstein. Carmilla, despite being seemingly highborn, is Lenore’s opposite. Carmilla demands attention, looks down on enforced propriety, and constantly asks Lenore, “What do you want?”
Though initially repulsed, the longer Carmilla recuperates at the Nethershaw estate, the more Lenore is drawn to her. Feverish, in a fugue state, Lenore begins to give in to her appetites.
Hungerstone‘s place-setting in the late nineteenth century is pristine, the writing raw and captivating, with a slow descent into an explosive finale. This Victorian retelling of Carmilla draws you in and feeds you until you are full. Hence why it’s on several “Most Anticipated” book lists for 2025. Hungerstone is a perfect read for those who enjoyed House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson or Grey Dog by Elliot Gish.

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