The Extraordinary Shadow of Florence Stoker

Prologue

They call me Mrs Dracula now. Once more I’m relegated to being ‘the Wife’, this time, to my husband’s fictional creation. As I look back over the years, it’s fair to say I’ve endured my share of monsters and unquiet spirits, all while striving to keep them at bay.

Ever since I married Bram on that chill December morn in Dublin, everything I’ve done has been in service to my marriage, to support my husband, his thankless labours for another, his dogged efforts to make a name for himself through his writing.

Surely, the choices I made, what I sacrificed, the secrets I kept, must be worth something too? If not, then what was it all for?

This is why I must ensure Bram’s legacy: to prove that as his wife, his widow, my life also had meaning. It’s all I want now.

That, and to forgive him.

And, perhaps, in doing so, forgive myself.