Carmilla

The sapphic vampire story that inspired Dracula , in an irresistible Little Clothbound Classics edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Laura leads a secluded life in a castle buried deep in the Austrian forest, far away from the dangers of the outside world. That is until a horse and carriage crashes nearby one night, and she and her father take in a weary, young traveller – Carmilla. As mysterious as she is beguiling, Carmilla weaves her way into Laura’s heart. Life proves less lonely with a friend. But sinister things start happening as the girls become closer, and the forest isn’t the safe haven it once was.

Sheridan Le Fanu’s nineteenth-century gothic tale was the first vampire novella. It paved the way for a literary tradition of female and lesbian vampires, and, before Dracula , explored the boundaries of sex and death. Still as chillingly alluring today as it was when it was written in 1871-2, Carmilla now joins Penguin’s Little Clothbound Classics series.

Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Of specific Lesbian interest, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Fantasy, Historical romance, Fiction: special features, Monsters & legendary beings

Published on 24 Sep 2026 by Penguin Books Ltd.