I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Just because October is over doesn’t mean that all of the horror-themed books have to be put in with the Halloween décor and stored in the attic for another year. I’m keeping the spirit going with Simper’s gothic retelling of Carmilla. If you haven’t heard of Carmilla, it’s a novella by J. Sheridan Le Fanu published in 1872 (thereby free on project gutenberg) and is about a lesbian vampire seducing a lonely young woman whose health slowly fails upon the vampire’s arrival. That’s a spotty summary as it’s been almost a decade since I read the original, but I do remember there being lesbian-themed scenes, however, Simper’s are more blatant and graphic.
Here’s the summary of Carmilla and Laura–
The book opens to modern day L.A. at the LAX airport. Professor Hesselius is reviewing the journal of a French girl from the 19th century while waiting to fly to France to present the documents to the Historical Preservation Board. The story continues via first person by Laura, the journal’s narrator, as she describes the account of her time with Carmilla. After a carriage mishap, Carmilla’s mother asks if her daughter can stay with Laura and her father as she continues her urgent travels. The one condition is that Carmilla not be requested to admit any of her history. Laura and her father agree and a summer romance ensues. Carmilla is a romantically inclined girl who shares her affections with Laura openly and, as the relationship progresses, Laura returns those affections in stride. However, girls are falling ill and dying in the nearby areas and Carmilla looks an awfully lot like a monstrous visitor Laura saw 13 years prior. Love overrides all trespasses though when Carmilla’s true nature is revealed and the two women provide each other with a new life.
One thing I love about SD Simper’s work is that she embraces the “romancing the monster” type theme. It’s a step farther than “ice-queen” because, unlike an ice queen who is merely perceived as being a cold hearted bitch because of some traumatic misunderstanding, a monster commits monstrous acts and is loved anyway by the hero. We also see this in her Fallen Gods series (to an even darker extent) which also features a lesbian vampire.
The writing in this book is elegant and seems true to the time. The prose are beautiful and Simper uses such vivid imagery to describe scenes. Even though the book is short (as is the nature of a novella), we see a good amount of character growth with Laura. She starts off tentative and unsure of her own wants concerning her future, not that women had much of a choice in the 19th century, but Laure still desires and discovers herself when Carmilla opens her mind to other possibilities.
This is a beautiful retelling and is perfect for anyone who likes darker-themed romance, horror stories, or plain ol’ lesbian vampires. https://www.amazon.com/Carmilla-Laura
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