Reluctant Immortals
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
For fans of Mexican Gothic, a harrowing, sultry horror novel about the forgotten women in Dracula and Jane Eyre as they combat the toxic men intent on destroying their lives.
Los Angeles, 1967. Lucy Westenra and Bertha Mason – the forgotten women in Dracula and Jane Eyre – have been existing as undead immortals for centuries, unable to die and still tormented by the monsters that made them.
Lucy has long fought against Dracula's intoxicating thrall, refusing his charismatic darkness and her ensuing appetite for blood. Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic, is still pursued from afar by Mr Rochester, who wants to add her to his collection of devoted female followers.
Then Dracula and Rochester make a shocking return in San Francisco. To finally write their own story, Lucy and Bertha must boldly reclaim their stories from the men who tried to erase them in this harrowing gothic tale of love, betrayal and coercion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the meandering, miserable latest from three-time Bram Stoker Award winner Kiste (The Rust Maidens), vampire Lucy Westenra of Dracula, and a mysteriously undead "Bee," Bertha Mason of Jane Eyre, live together in 1967 L.A.—until an offensively mischaracterized Jane Eyre, here cowed, beaten down, and in cahoots with evil men, arrives at their doorstep and frees Dracula's remains from the urns in which Lucy has been imprisoning him. Jane then returns to San Francisco and Mr. Rochester, reenvisioned as a cross between Hugh Hefner and Charles Manson, who keeps a harem of barefoot women and forces Jane to join in erotic cult-worship of a revived Dracula. Lucy and Bertha conveniently fall in with a group of hippies as they work to rescue Jane and take down both evil men. The novel attempts to condemn misogynist abuse but delights in and eroticizes its depictions of female victimization, making it feel less daring and nuanced in its depictions of female resistance to gendered cruelty than the 19th-century novels that inspired it. Devotees of Dracula and Jane Eyre will be baffled by Kiste's unrecognizable updates of the characters. For those unfamiliar with the originals, there may be some pleasure in exploring the unrelentingly grim atmosphere Kiste brings to 1960s San Francisco, but others can safely skip this.
