#Spooktober ‘A Dowry Of Blood’ by S.T Gibson

Horror

About the book…

A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets.

With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

I am so grateful to Nazia Khatun of Orbit books for one of my most eagerly anticipated books of 2022, the first in a new series bringing new life to the legends of Dracula’s spouses, ‘A Dowry Of Blood’

First up is Constanta, rescued from a medieval battle who, we are led to believe , had an element of choice in the way in which she accepts the dark gift.

On the verge of death but fighting for every breath,her essence attracts the man she obliquely refers to as her lord,her liege, never by his known name.

He takes her name and gifts her Constanta, in return she un names him and reinforces her sense of who she is through her first person narration.

Unsure of what she has done,immediately after being turned, she wreaks a bloody and swift revenge on the troops who attacked her village.

Between establishing her new life where she can go anywhere and be anything, she , as mocked by her partner, keeps her poverty inside her. The ones she kills are those worth killing for their transgressions and their abuses .

It amuses Dracula to watch her take a moral stand from the other side of life’s veil, what he does not realise is that he has sired a monster but failed to erase her conscience.

She travels the world with him, taking in everything on board that she could possibly learn. Until she turns her gaze towards what her Undead life is all about, until he introduces a new ‘wife’ and until she investigates who, and what came before her. And what part will she play in what comes next?

A beautifully sinuous and sensuous exploration of the voiceless ‘brides’, the ones who are seen as an adjunct, a commodity to Dracula, this has gothic thrills and chills from beginning to end. The form of a love letter from Constanta to Dracula is really clever, it brings you into their intimate circle and makes you complicit in their relationship.

It’s a perfect late night read, something to dive into, wallow in and adore. With interesting things to say about consent, manipulation and coercion within relationships, this is a layered novel with a fiercely beating heart.

About the author…

S.T. Gibson is a poet, author, and village wise woman in training.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and a Masters of Theological Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Links-https://stgibson.com/

Twitter @s_t_gibson @orbitbooks