Varney The Vampire: Or

This 19th Century novel epitomizes the Gothic genre, centering on the dark, eccentric story of a bloodthirsty vampire and his crumbling aristocratic family. It has been an endless source of debate for readers as to whether the protagonist, Varney, was in fact a literal vampire, or if the authors just wrote him to act like one, making the narrative somewhat distorted and confusing at times. Despite this, Varney the Vampire has been attributed to being one of the few books that revolutionized the classic vampire genre, along with Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. Sometimes referred to as ‘The Feast of Blood’, this novel really is a truly bloody and horrific tale, with graphic scenes of deceit, attempted murder and pitch-fork brandishing civilians.Being originally published as a weekly column, the chronology of the book is fairly sporadic and sometimes, downright undiscernible, however, any self-respecting vampire enthusiast should give this book a try, if only for the unusually entertaining undertones of the novel.