I absolutely loved this! As an avid fan of Dracula, this was everything I could have wanted and more. The backstory surrounding Bram Stoker, fictional or otherwise, was wonderful, and gave so much more meaning to the Dracula I know and love.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review


I first read 'Dracula' at the age of nine (about three decades ago!) and as the author of this book suggests, it was a formative novel for me. It has managed to find something new to say every time I have picked it up to read again in the intervening decades - which is no small feat for a book written over a hundred and fifty years ago and first experienced as a child.

<i>Dracul</i> is not a mere retelling or even a homage - despite doing both of those things well - instead it is the story of how a pivot point in the history of literature such as Dracula might have come about. I was at least somewhat familiar with Bram Stoker's life but clearly Dacre Stoke has done painstaking research on his ancestor. I imagine it would have been easy to sell this book based on it riding the coat-tails of its predecessor and on the author's name. Instead, great care has been taken to blend fact with fiction and supposition to create a true gothic masterpiece blending Bram's life with that of his most famous creation. There are clear parallels to the original but subtly changed or inverted - Bram himself takes the part of Mina Harker for instance. As always the question is 'what makes a monster?' And as always the answer is left to the reader with a gentle bent towards 'only monstrous acts truly make a person a monster.' Do not expect simple parallels with Vlad Tepish here either. Bram Stoker's vampyre is much older than the Impaler and Dacre Stoker has reflected this, drawing on the older vampire folklore rather than more modern and romantic vampire myth.

This is a very accomplished novel, recreating and expanding on the original whilst still telling an entirely new tale in the classic gothic style. It even manages the epistolary style without losing suspense - something most modern authors fail at! Highly recommend this for all those who loved the original, gothic novels in general or who want a vampire story where the creature is a truly evil fiend not a love interest.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I’m a big fan of horror and Dracula’s gothic nature, and this prequel definitely delivered. The perfect Halloween book, oozing with grisly imagery and gothic atmosphere. Historically rich in the life of Bram Stoker and utterly shocking in delivery, an excellent tale of grit and the macabre.

Fans of Dracula will enjoy this darkly gothic novel, supposedly sharing the story of Bram Stoker’s childhood, his strange and beautiful nanny Ellen, and the mystery he and his siblings begin to unravel. There are some fantastically spooky moments and the writing is atmospheric enough to capture certain scenes very well, but it was quite slow to start and the constant jumping back and forth between ‘then’ and ‘now,’ intended, I think, to build tension, just interrupted the flow of the story for me.

The author’s note at the end leaves more questions than it answered, and seems to imply that the author believes this to be a true story, which threw me somewhat.

4.5 stars
Dracula is a great book, but Dracul is even better!

Dracul is a fiction novel features the author of Dracula, Bram Stocker. Bram and his siblings live in Dublin with their parents and a nanny. Bram is a sickly child and not many believe he will survive his childhood. The nanny 'Nanna Ellen' is popular with the children but Bram and his sister Matilda suspect something is not quite right about her. They never see her eat, her room is full of dust and dirt and the bed doesn't seem to have ever been used. Told mostly from the 1st person point of view, this book is bound to give you the creeps. I loved the gothic tone of the novel and the spooky and dark 19th century world with 'undead' people walking around. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

At the age of thirteen I can remember being given the book Dracula by Bram Stoner. I can remember devouring it and this book never left my side. This is where my lovè of this genre began and it has never waned. When I was given the opportunity to read this offering I jumped at the chance. This is the extraordinary story of the Stoner family and their nanny Ellen. This is the tale of what befalls them. It is also the prequel to Dracula. From the first page I was hooked and immediately transported back into this period of time. Atmospheric, scary and completely addictive. Not for the squeamish and so beautifully written I could not get enough of this book. Dracula has been read by millions worldwide and loved but in my opion Dracul is the new classic for today. A love story that spans the centuries and so much more. As with the old classic which I have returned to many times over the years, I know that I will do the same with Dracul. A masterpiece in this genre!!!!!! Go to bed early and read this book with all the lights on. An easy ten stars and so Highly Recommended. A very happy reader !!!!!!!
I would like to thank the author, Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

A perfectly creepy Halloween treat.

Well, the spiced pumpkin lattes are out so it must be time to hit the scary reading lists and I would recommend putting this one high on the list this spooky season if you are looking for a truly unsettling, dark supernatural tale that has a good dose of mystery and intriguing characters.

Inspired by notes by Bram Stoker this prequel to Stoker’s classic Dracula was always going to have high expectations to live up to and for me, I wasn’t disappointed. Telling the tale of the young Bram Stoker, we meet his childhood caretaker, Ellen Crone whose odd behavior sparks the interest of young Bram and his sister Matilda who of course decide to poke their noses into her business little knowing they are just at the start of what will be an ongoing nightmare for the family. With many chilling discoveries, the tension builds and an unsettling tale is revealed.

It’s a very well written book that doesn't get bogged down in trying to use too much language and style of the period it is set in, instead focusing on successfully creating the gothic atmosphere to creepy perfection. Despite different POVs and timelines, it’s never hard to follow the action. The characters are gripping, in particular, Bram’s sister Matilda comes across as a superb character with brains and determination that are not expected of a lady of the time

This is not a tale for those of a squeamish disposition but it makes a great Halloween fix and has made me want to go and re-read Dracula now.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because I was a little cynical that an ancestor of Bram Stoker would actually be any good as a writer in their own right (although it should be noted that JD Barker is co-author). It felt like it might be a cash-in...but no, this was great fun.

Dracul is a prequel to Dracula (potential further books in the series are Draculb and Draculc*) and focuses on Bram Stoker himself as the main character. Bram encounters some pale, fang-y, dead-ish types as a young man, with the idea being that this is what led him to write Dracula afterwards.

It's a lot better than I've just made it sound.

I was pretty much hooked right away. The story is pacy, exciting and very creepy in parts. I don't usually get that scared by scary books nowadays but this is one i seemed to mainly be reading during daylight hours! The vamps were cool and mysterious but not sparkly and safe - they are prone to ghoulish violence at the drop of at hat and they positively drip evil (most of them).

I don't have anything much negative to say, which is extremely rare for me. There was the odd anachronism in speech at times. I think there was one point when Dracul(a) referred to the protagonists as "you lot", bringing to mind a worn-out school teacher rather than the dark lord of the night.

Anyway, if you like Dracula, read this. If you like historical scares, read this. If you like horror, read this. If you like books... yeah, read this.

*No, not really.

With thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for a proof review copy ahead of publication n exchange for my honest review.

This purports to be the prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, authored by his great-great-descendant and founded on the premise that Bram Stoker’s novel was based on true events but had many sections excised by the publisher to make it read like fiction. The excised parts allegedly form the basis of this novel.

The narrative opens with an exhausted Bram Stoker in a tower room at night, guarding a chamber whose door is locked on the outside. Inside is a nameless horror trying to get out, whilst the outside air is beset with wolves howling, a storm raging and a mysterious tall man in a dark cloak who can command snakes to appear. Bram’s only defences are many mirrors and crosses nailed to the walls, a few vials of holy water, a basket of wild white roses, a Bowie knife and a Snider-Enfield Mark III rifle. Afraid this may be his last night on earth, Bram passes the long hours scribbling in his journal, detailing the events that led to this moment of horror.

His journal tells of the Stoker family, living in Dublin with Bram as a very sickly child, who have a mysterious, indispensable nanny called Ellen Crone. Bram and his sister Matilda observe that Ellen’s image, drawn by the artistically talented Matilda, is never the same twice. Her eyes change colour regularly, going from a dull grey to brightest blue with shades in between depending on how tired she seems. Her room, which she shares with the baby, is dusty with thick dirt that appears long undisturbed, and instead of the usual straw mattress the base of her bed contains foul smelling earth. And older brother Thornley has been seen bringing her a bag with something writhing and alive inside. When 7-year-old Bram’s health takes a rapid downhill turn and his doctor uncle’s best efforts are to no avail, Ellen banishes everyone from the room, and does something which results in a miraculous recovery for Bram. Then she disappears from their lives. Could she possibly be... a vampire??

14 years pass, and the now 22-year-old Matilda returns from a trip to France with news that she is convinced she had spotted Ellen, who looked not a day older. This is the cue for Matilda and Bram to visit their brother Thornley, whose wife of late has been acting oddly and lusting for blood...

The narrative form imitates that of the original (and infinitely better) Dracula, piecing together the narrative out of fragments of journals and letters. In Dracula, this technique worked perfectly to keep the reader engaged with the various voices and events taking place in different places at different times. I wish I could say that Dacre Stoker has inherited his ancestor’s talents for writing, but sadly this is very far indeed from being the case. What we see in this novel is an adherence to a form in order to simulate a sense of continuity with the original novel, but a complete failure to fit the form to the substance. The writing style is clumsy and tends to overstate everything, and the various diaries, journals and letters show no variation in tone, so that I had to keep going back to check whose bit I was reading - when it felt like it might matter, which was not often. And they pretty much tell the tale in chronological sequence anyway, begging the question of why bother?

The story is gripping enough, I will give it that. But there is no pleasure in the writing, in a tale well told, no savouring the journey to find out what is happening and how the characters’ tales will unfold. It is like a dissatisfying sexual encounter - you want to get to the end as quickly as possible because you are taking no real pleasure along the way.

What if Bram Stoker himself was a vampire? A hugely exciting, creepy and innovative take on the Dracula story. In this version, it is Bram Stoker and his family who encounter Dracul and the world of vampires through his devoted family nurse, Ellen. It is Bram who becomes infected with the vampire virus when his nurse tries to save him from a childhood illness that would have otherwise killed him. What follows is the story of Bram and his friends and family (who closely mirror the characters in Dracula) and their attempts to defeat Dracul and save themselves. In this tale. Not all the vampires are evil and friends' motivations are not what they appear. A gripping tale, wreathed in fog, fear, magic and superstition - don't read it late at night!

Interesting story but quite a tricky read. I loved the concept of the book being a prequel/ background to Stoker’s Dracula, it is well written but quite slow and intricate. It took me more time than usual to get through but I still would recommend it for any Stoker’s aficionados or fans of the genre.

In an epilogue that would work better as a prologue Dracul tells you that it is a compilation of notes from the protagonists of the book, in the manner of Stoker's Dracula, that tell of true happenings. It also outlines the origin of Dracula and how it is an edited version of a true story, by Mina Harker. I would have preferred this to be first as it was unclear whether this was a biography, an exaggerated, fictionalised, biography, or a story. This might be partly my fault as I have a terrible habit of instantly forgetting the blurb of any book I read.

That being said, the book is incredibly engaging, with moments of high tension that meant I occasionally had to read something light before I could continue. It dragged a little at first but I think this was partly because I was unsure what exactly to expect, once it really got started however it was quite the ride.

We follow each of the protagonists either from their letters or journal entries, I enjoyed the switching perspectives and understanding their views on the matter. Substance and action were well balanced, I felt, not too much of one or the other. There were a number of twists and turns throughout the book and while I'm often a good guesser, some reveals were ones I could not have guessed which is always satisfying.

The one thing that let this book down was that the formatting for Kindle, but on my phone - I haven't tried on a Kindle or Kindle for PC - is at times terrible. Every so often there will be floating page numbers, the titles aren't particularly clear, and the text could be difficult to read at times. But if you can get a print version, or if they sort out the formatting before release, then it's a very worthwhile read.

I received this pre-publication e-book from Random House UK via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Also posted on Goodreads and Amazon.)
I wanted to love this, I really did. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a go-to classic during my misspent Gothic youth (what? shut up) and I was intrigued by the promise of a prequel exploring the young Bram’s family, his early life, and the (albeit fictionalised) inspiration for the story that he eventually wrote.
The book starts well, with Bram barricaded in a tower room guarding a locked door behind which is some terrible horror. There is menace in these sections of the book, and interest, and enough gothic tropes to satisfy anyone. The interspersed diary entries where Bram recounts his early childhood – a debilitating illness, the mysterious Nanny Ellen and the events surrounding his miraculous recovery and her disappearance – are also engaging.
The early pace of the book was slow, and while I don’t necessarily mind that if the characters retain my interest, I did find that I lost my way with this a few times and had to backtrack. It did pick up later on, especially once the threads of the plot began to unwind, but unfortunately it then accelerated rather too much; the end felt rushed, confusing and without the sympathetic characterisation which was sometimes apparent earlier on.
I also had some issues with the language. The book consciously employs a rather purple Victorian Gothic style, which is fine when done well, but there were some absolute clonkers of anachronisms and regional issues. I cannot believe that middle-class Irish families in the 1860s would have said “okay”, “sidewalk”, “you do know that, right?” or “go it alone”. It was sometimes repetitive, sometimes too wordy, sometimes inaccurate in word usage, and seven-year-old Bram and his nine-year-old sister spoke like pompous adults – perhaps these are things that only an editor would notice and be bothered by, but for me they detracted significantly from my enjoyment of the book.
In the end, I was left with a feeling that this book could have – should have – been so much better than it is. The plot is classic Victorian Gothic melodrama, but we are led through it by the nose (there is a lot of repetitive exposition), and it lacks the depth of emotion and the complexity of the genuine article. All in all – a disappointment.

Young Bram Stoker is a sickly individual who is looked after by an adored nanny, Ellen Crone. One night Bram is so ill that he is not thought likely to survive, but by the morning he has suddenly begun to improve, and, even more strangely does not suffer any more illnesses. Several years later, his sister Matilda sees Ellen and they are both plunged into a terrifying nightmare that they could never have imagined.

This is a strange book - supposedly based on the writings of the young Bram Stoker with some fictional additions. It did make an interesting read (I hesitate to say enjoyable) and, as I have read Dracula and can't help a comparison, I thought it was a well written modern adaptation of the story.

It's quite hard to say more without giving too much away; suffice to say it is a genuine horror rather than a thriller and will definitely appear to fans of "monsters of the night". I think I'd probably read another by Dacre Stoker as long as it wasn't another spin off - one of those appears to be plenty enough!

As a huge fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula I was really excited to read Dracul.
This book was everything I wanted it to be and more - a creepy and sinister gothic mystery with imagery that will crawl under your skin and into your nightmares.

This book is a prequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula, written in a similar style to the original novel by presenting it as a series of journal entries and letters.

The main premise is that Dracula is a true story based on true events and this novel details the true story behind the original.

Wonderfully reminiscent of reading Dracula while sufficiently different to entertain the reader throughout the book follows Bram and his family through childhood and their experiences with vampires.

Much of the early story is set in Ireland with many references to the history of the time giving an extra depth to the tale.

Highly recommended.

Just like Bram Stoker's original Dracula this book mainly takes the form of a series of journal and diary entries together with letters emanating from members of the Stoker family. The premise is that Stoker based his 1897 novel on true events that he encountered from his childhood when due to the intervention of his mysterious nanny when he was 7 years old he miraculously recovered from a life threatening illness. However there was a price to pay that would mean that his life would be forever haunted by the undead.

Set over several timelines the story culminates with Bram as a 22 year old with his brother and sister and Arminius Vambery (among other things a vampire hunter) in deepest Bavaria confronting the title of his subsequent novel.. This is a wonderful prequel and accompaniment to the original and if you like anything Gothic then this is a must read. We have the ruined castle and abbey, the night time visits to cemeteries and the howls of wolves and screeching of bats. Also like the original the story has dramatic scenes at Whitby with the Church of St. Mary, reached by 199 steps. The story due to its format took me a little time to get into but eventually I became fully immersed into the wonderfully descriptive prose. Recommended for all those who liked Bram Stoker's original Dracula or just lovers of the Gothic genre.

What do we know about the man who penned Dracula? We know that Bram Stoker was bedridden, and thought to die several times until he turned 7 years old and became the poster boy for health. We know that during his confined years his mother told him horror stories describing a Cholera epidemic that she lived through that featured people believed to be dead and who were buried alive. We know that there is 101 pages missing from that book! The version we have was altered by the publisher to such an extent that Stoker was on the verge of removing his book from publication. Why? Because the story of Dracula, Stoker claims is real, though names and locations have been changed and it is therefore a warning and not a story - but a story sells better.

From notes left behind Stokers descendent has written a prequel to the famous Gothic novel. The story focuses mainly on Bram Stokers early childhood and adulthood and those whom he came into contact with in real life. Most notably, Arminius Vambery a Hungarian ,Turkologist and traveller who also was a spy and Thronley Stoker, Brams older brother who was a renowned doctor and wrote handwritten notes on Stokers drafts about medical procedures featured in the novel.

I loved this prequel, it had scary moments of true Gothic horror standards in the manner of the original and early Hammer film movies. Also at the end is photos of the notes Stoker left behind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an electronic copy of this novel in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a prequel to Bram Stoker's legendary Dracula, written by Dacre Stoker, related to Bram, with his original Stoker documents and JD Barker, the author of the Fourth Monkey trilogy. They write a seamless blend of fact and fiction with Irish folklore in this confection of historical horror. It's a gripping gothic supernatural thriller and chiller, that has the 21 year old Bram Stoker in 1868 in a dark and spooky tower, facing the longest night of his life with a strange collection of items that include holy water, a rifle and crucifixes. He is terrified out of his wits and desperately praying that he will live to see through the night as he recalls just how he came to be in his current predicament. It all begins with his sickly bedridden childhood at his family home in Dublin, Ireland.

As a child, Bram comes close to death with the medical profession little able to help him. It is their beloved nanny, Ellen Crone, who saves him and is later to depart rather abruptly from their lives. There are a number of deaths in a nearby town, Bram and his sister, Matilda become rather curious about Ellen's strange and bizarre behaviour and her odd absences. Years later, Matilda is studying in Paris, when she spots Ellen and goes on to inform Bram as their nightmare begins to unfold in this tale of blood, graveyards, the undead and vampires. This is a grisly and riveting read, well plotted with a tense and highly suspenseful narrative, with oodles of atmosphere and creepiness and it's echoes of Stoker's original Dracula. I recommend this highly to all those readers who have yet to read it, after all Halloween is not so far away, and this is ideal reading matter for that time of the year! Many thanks to Random House Transworld for a copy of the book.

Such a great prequel to the wonderful world that is Dracula and how fascinating to read about Bram Stokers history and life prior to the book