1 h 26 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 35 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 35 pagesAbout this book
What if the most dangerous man in the room is also the most charming?
In London's fashionable drawing rooms, young Aubrey meets Lord Ruthven, a pale, magnetic nobleman whom society welcomes. Romantic and trusting, Aubrey wants to understand this stranger. He joins Ruthven on a journey across Europe, but admiration gives way to doubt as he notices the ruin surrounding his companion.
In John William Polidori's short Gothic tale, danger wears the manners of a gentleman. Aubrey's travels bring him to Greece, where the lively Ianthe shares her people's old legends. Between elegant society and supernatural dread, he faces a troubling question: how much can he trust the man he chooses as a friend?
What you’ll discover
- A gentleman to fear Meet Lord Ruthven, whose cold elegance makes his place in society all the more unsettling.
- Trust under threat Follow Aubrey as his romantic curiosity meets disturbing signs he struggles to understand.
- Legends among the ruins Enter Aubrey's Greek surroundings, where Ianthe brings warmth and the old tales of her people.
- The vampire enters society Discover the first English tale to turn folklore's vampire into a polished, dangerous gentleman.
- Dread through uncertain eyes See Ruthven through Aubrey's eyes, sharing his doubts as admiration gives way to fear.
Who will love it
For readers who love Gothic atmosphere, the roots of the vampire legend, or the circle of Byron and the Shelleys, and anyone who enjoys a classic chiller in one sitting.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ghost story game by Lake Geneva
- A strange lord appears in London
- Kindness that ruins those it touches
- Aubrey chooses to travel with Ruthven
- Greece, a girl, and an old legend
- Trust, silence and the predator in society
- How the tale is told and what it began
Who’s who
- AubreyA young, orphaned and wealthy gentleman, romantic and trusting, who wants to understand the strange lord he admires.
- Lord RuthvenA pale, cold and magnetic nobleman whose charm draws society while those close to him fall into ruin.
- IantheA kind and lively Greek girl, the daughter of the Greek household where he lodges, who guides Aubrey and tells him the old tales of her people.
- Aubrey's sisterAubrey's younger sister, who is just entering society and whom he loves and wishes to protect.
- Aubrey's guardiansThe relatives who manage his affairs and send him a letter warning of Ruthven's past.
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- Audiobook
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Vampyre; a Tale
by John William Polidori · 1819
Aubrey follows a magnetic lord across Europe, where charm conceals a threat to those who trust him.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 7
A ghost story game by Lake Geneva
The tale begins outside its own pages, in June 1816. Lord Byron had rented a house near Lake Geneva called the Villa Diodati. With him was Polidori, his young physician. Nearby stayed the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin, who would later be Mary Shelley, and her stepsister Claire Clairmont.
The weather that summer was cold and wet. The party stayed indoors, read German ghost stories aloud, and talked late into the night. Byron then proposed that each of them write a tale of the supernatural. Mary began the story that became Frankenstein. Byron wrote only a fragment, a short tale about a mysterious traveller who dies and leaves a strange promise behind.
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What is The Vampyre by Polidori about?
It tells of Aubrey, a young Englishman who befriends the mysterious Lord Ruthven. He travels with him across Europe and slowly learns that the lord brings ruin to those around him, and that something darker lies behind it.
Who is Lord Ruthven based on?
Many readers saw Lord Byron in him. Polidori had been Byron's physician, and Ruthven shares his pale looks and scandalous charm. The name Ruthven also came from an earlier novel by Lady Caroline Lamb.
Was The Vampyre written before Dracula?
Yes. It was published in 1819, nearly eighty years before Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897. It is regarded as the first English story to make the vampire a refined aristocrat rather than a folk corpse.
The author
John William Polidori
1795–1821 · English Gothic writer and physician
John William Polidori was an English writer and physician, born in London in 1795. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In 1816, he travelled with Lord Byron as his physician and stayed in Switzerland. His story The Vampyre was published in 1819. He died in London in 1821.
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