Some parts vanished altogether – the tinker is not in this.

Perhaps these were to try and distance from the text a little. For instance, the author changes Laura’s father from English to French, a change that had no impact bar cosmetic or, as another example, the discovery of Mircalla’s portrait was due to a search in the attic rather than it being a picture returned following cleaning/restoration. There are changes that seemed an affectation for little reason. Thus we discover that her vampirism was born of suicide and that she had been married to an ancestor of Baron Vordenburg – hence the family hunting vampires through the generations, though the husband was a rapist and abuser. With Carmilla revealed (and accepted, by Laura) as a vampire she is able to offer her backstory (or at least as much as she can work around her vow of secrecy).

Not only with Laura responding to Carmilla’s flirtation and them becoming lovers but in aspects such as General Speilsdorf not only losing his niece to the vampire (off page) but Laura’s father seeking to arrange a marriage between her and the General. I say at first because the story does morph and change. This, in a literary sense, is window-dressing and the main event is set in the same time period and, at first, follows the same story. The wraparound with Dr Hesselius is modernised, with the good doctor reading a discovered manuscript as she waits for a delayed flight. The question becomes, is there a point? After all Le Fanu’s story is well written. It treads the same ground that the classic vampire story trod before but it does expand on the lesbianism, making it less an undertone (though I do think the main attack that we see on Laura in the original goes far beyond undertone) and makes the sexuality of Laura and Carmilla explicit – I will say the sexuality is explicit but the sex within it isn’t explicit and is tastefully done. The Review: This novella is a retelling of the LeFanu classic, not a sequel to it. But when a mysterious plague begins stealing the lives of young women in her home and the village beyond, Laura wrestles to reconcile the truth – that the gentle, fragile woman she loves may be a monster cast out of heaven.Ĭarmilla, the classic vampire novella written by J Sheridan LeFanu, receives new life in this gorgeous retelling, centered on the provocative, controversial leads of the original, Carmilla and Laura. Attraction blossoms into a temptation Laura fears to name, a tantalizing passion burning brighter than the fires of hell. With charm unparalleled and habits as mysterious as her history, Carmilla’s allure is undeniable, drawing Laura closer with every affectionate touch and word. A chance accident brings a new companion, however – the eccentric and beautiful Carmilla. The blurb: In the late 19th century, Laura lives a lonely life in a schloss by the forest, Styria, with only her doting father and two governesses for company.

Carmilla and laura sd simper