Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla is a seminal 1872 Gothic novella that predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula and established many of the conventions of the lesbian vampire trope. The story is narrated by Laura, a young woman living in isolation in a secluded castle in Styria with her father. Her solitary life is disrupted by the arrival of Carmilla, a beautiful and mysterious guest who comes to stay after a dramatic carriage accident nearby. From the beginning, Carmilla exhibits strange behaviors: she is lethargic during the day, shows an intense and possessive affection for Laura, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a portrait of a centuries-dead countess. As their friendship deepens, Laura experiences vivid and sensual nightmares and begins to fall into a mysterious wasting illness. Meanwhile, a plague of mysterious deaths sweeps the countryside, all marked by a small, painless puncture wound on the victims. The novel builds a palpable atmosphere of dreamlike eroticism and dread as Laura’s father and a group of men, including a knowledgeable old general, piece together the truth: Carmilla is the vampire Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, who has preyed upon young women for centuries. A classic of the genre, Carmilla is celebrated for its exploration of forbidden desire, its psychological horror, and its powerful depiction of a female vampire as both predator and object of sympathy.

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