Descent into Dust

The Extraordinary Adventures of Emma Andrews, Victorian Lady and Vampire Hunter "Though it is many decades later, it all comes back to me; back to those early days when the terror was new and I was dangerously untrained. When I was young and did not yet know I had a secret . . ." Twenty-five-year-old widow Emma Andrews grew up in the shadow of her mother's madness, so when she arrives at Dulwich Manor in the midst of a mysterious plague and soon thereafter begins to see specters, her family fears fate has finally caught up with her. But one guest among them knows Emma's visions are more than a trick of the mind. Valerian Fox has hunted the great vampire lord Marius through time and across continents, and he knows Emma has a remarkable destiny. She is Dhampir—a vampire hunter. Surrounded by those who would use her powers for their own ends, Emma does not know who to trust or what she can believe. But when her young cousin is marked for death, she must embrace the terrible inheritance that lies in her very blood to save those she loves. An extraordinary saga of courage, love, duty, and honor, of darkest destiny and ancient evil . . . and of the shadow of the Dracula himself. It begins.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Lepore’s debut novel, the first in the Emma Andrews Victorian gothic mystery series, has a deliciously macabre feel, and renders vampires horrific rather than romantic. When Emma, a 23-year-old widow, attends an extended house party at a cousin’s estate in Wiltshire, she discovers a terrible evil stalking Henrietta, her cousin’s child. Other guests include her estranged and newly pregnant younger half-sister; her brother-in-law, Sebastian; and Valerian Fox, an acquaintance of her host. Emma finds a malevolent presence in a hawthorn, and discovers Henrietta has been communicating with a ghostly presence, that the plague is striking, and learns that she is facing a different evil. A failed attempt to vanquish the vampire sends Emma into exile in a Benedictine monastery in France, home to a library where she may uncover what it is she needs to save Henrietta. The rural Victorian setting is evocative, and the vampire threat palpable. While Lepore’s tale does come to a nail-biting climax, her compelling characters are not finished with their missions, and so will continue their vampire slaying in future books, which will surely please readers. --Diana Tixier Herald

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