Penny Bloods Gothic Tales of Dangerous Women

Her cheeks were pale, and her eyes had the wild and stolid glare which Rodolph had observed when she awakened from the slumber of the grave; she quitted the castle, and after gazing around her, as if uncertain which way to go, she proceeded towards the village.

In the mid 1800s, the inexpensive publications known as penny bloods were all the rage in Britain. Spinning tales of high Gothic drama, violence and monstrosity, this literary phenomenon was significant for its depictions of dangerous and transgressive women which inspired such milestone Gothic works as Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla.

Collecting ten tales from classic – and truly obscure – penny publications and featuring newly edited text and insights from Dr Dittmer’s research, this new volume revives a company of witches, femme fatales, vampire mistresses and deadly criminals to enthrall a new generation of readers.

Nicole C Dittmer is a Lecturer of Gothic Studies at The College of New Jersey, whose forthcoming books include the monograph Monstrous Women and Ecofeminism in the Victorian Gothic, 1837–1871 and the co-edited collection Penny Dreadfuls and the Gothic; or, Investigations of Pernicious Tales of Terror.