Hungerstone
The utterly compulsive, fierce and powerful reimagining of the original vampire novel CARMILLA
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Set against the violent wilderness of the Peak district, a compulsive sapphic reworking of original vampire novel CARMILLA, the book that inspired DRACULA: a captivating story of unstoppable hunger . . .
'Rich and daring' Ava Reid
'A beguiling feast of a novel' Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
'I LOVED it' Taylor Jenkins Reid
'Phenomenal' Samantha Shannon
FOR WHAT DO YOU HUNGER . . . ?
Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry's guests - their future depends on it.
But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .
Everyone is devouring HUNGERSTONE . . .
'An extraordinary book' Jennifer Saint
'Hungerstone grabbed me body and soul' Anya Bergman
'Ravenous, righteous and utterly sublime' Bea Fitzgerald
'Intoxicating and vivid . . . Sensual and vicious' Hannah Kaner
'A true feast for all the senses' Cosmopolitan
'A beguiling and spellbinding story of female repression and appetite' Heat
'A fabulous Gothic feast of a novel' Elodie Harper
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Vampires are an endless source of fascination, and in Hungerstone, Kat Dunn breathes fresh life into one of the subject’s oldest stories of all—the book that inspired Dracula. Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but 10 years into their marriage, their relationship is floundering. They move to the Peak District, where a carriage accident near their remote estate results in Lenore meeting Carmilla, a mysterious woman who, strangely, is listless during the day but lively and energetic after the sun goes down. Carmilla, based on the character from the 1872 vampire story by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu, stirs up a hunger buried deep within Lenore. The wilderness of the moors and the unrest of the Industrial Revolution provide a vibrantly depicted backdrop to the darkness inside Lenore’s home in this enthralling novel about female appetites and sapphic desires.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dunn (Dangerous Remedy) offers a moody and triumphant retelling of Carmilla, the 1872 gothic novella by Sheridan Le Fanu, about a married woman in Victorian London who experiences an existential and sexual awakening at the hands of a female vampire. Lenore Crowther, 30, a restless aristocrat, sleeps alone in the drafty mansion she shares with Henry, a steel mill magnate, whom she married for his money. When the couple witnesses a roadside carriage accident, they rescue the distraught victim, Carmilla Kernstein. As Carmilla recovers, Lenore realizes how much their new guest resembles a ghostly girl who's been haunting her dreams. Soon, Carmilla kindles a long-buried desire in Lenore and turns Lenore into a vampire like herself. Bodice-ripping and bloodsucking ensue, as Lenore discovers her independence. Dunn portrays the newly awakened Lenore as increasingly outspoken, empowered, and fearless, turning the novel into a meditation on womanhood, corporate greed, and queer desire, delivered in frank prose ("To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend"). This revitalizes Le Fanu's classic tale without losing any of its appeal.
