HarperCollins is proud to present a range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘I was conscious of a love growing into adoration, and also of abhorrence.’ When lonely nineteen-year-old Laura welcomes an enigmatic stranger into her home in the heart of the Stryian forest, she has no idea that the beautiful Carmilla is not what she seems. Laura’s childhood nightmares have resurfaced, and a mysterious illness is beginning to take hold as the intimacy between the two women evolves into something more sinister. First published in 1872, twenty-six years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula , Le Fanu introduced Carmilla, the original female vampire with a taste for innocent young women. Having influenced countless horror stories for over 150 years, this Gothic tale of dark obsession, ancient legend and wayward daughters is a classic of the genre. ‘I was conscious of a love growing into adoration, and also of abhorrence.’ When lonely nineteen-year-old Laura welcomes an enigmatic stranger into her home in the heart of the Stryian forest, she has no idea that the beautiful Carmilla is not what she seems. Laura’s childhood nightmares have resurfaced, and a mysterious illness is beginning to take hold as the intimacy between the two women evolves into something more sinister. First published in 1872, twenty-six years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Le Fanu introduced Carmilla, the original female vampire with a taste for innocent young women. Having influenced countless horror stories for over 150 years, this Gothic tale of dark obsession, ancient legend and wayward daughters is a classic of the genre. Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873) was an Irish writer, celebrated for his Gothic tales, ghost stories and mystery novels. Le Fanu's best-known works in the horror fiction genre include Uncle Silas (1864); his collection of stories In a Glass Darkly (1872); and the vampire novella Carmilla (1872).