The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat, first published in the UK in 1897, is a classic gothic horror novel sure to be appreciated by all lovers of the vampire genre. It's an unusual story for this type of literature given that the lead character is a mixed-race psychic vampire - so could be said to be many years ahead of its' time. She comes to Victorian Europe from a convent in Jamaica but, unfortunately, finds it difficult to fit in. Given the characteristics of the heroine, it received rather mixed reviews when it was first released but has garnered more academic and literary interest from the end of the twentieth century onwards. Quite apart from its horror context it is also of wider interest for what it says about attitudes to race and social class.