Dracula & Daughters: Sink your fangs into a brand new adventure series

Famous actress Elsie Irving has died in mysterious circumstances and, for the first time in 20 years, a vampire Contagion has broken out in Temstown. Are the two things linked? Mina, her sister Buffy and cousin Bella find that they are connected by a family secret and they could be the only ones who can save the people of the city. They will need to use all of their new-found skills to save the life of Mina's best friend, Varney, who has been bitten. The three girls are plunged into a scary and dangerous adventure as they race against time to return a vampire to its grave and save Varney.

With a great cast of feisty female characters, this brilliant novel grips the reader from the very first page. Mina is the narrator; she wants to be a doctor but girls are not allowed to do this in Temstown, much to her frustration. Her sister, Buffy, has a great affinity with animals, and Bella works with her mother as an undertaker.

Dracula & Daughters is beautifully written, as is only to be expected from an Emma Carroll novel! Action-packed and atmospheric, we follow the girls as they race through the frozen streets of Temstown in a desperate race to save their friend. Carroll's clever use of names - Polidori, Westenra, Helsing, Poe, as well as Mina, Bella and Buffy - give us links to classic vampire tales, and introduces the reader to the dhampir - someone born from a union between a vampire and a human.

The main theme of the book is family; Mina is very close to her mother and sister and her family expands with the discovery of an aunt and cousin she did not know about. Varney, although not a blood relation, is also a part of her family, and her loyalty to him throughout the novel is heartwarming. Special mention must go to the raven, Poe, who is a great addition to the story!

All in all, this is a book which will be enjoyed by anyone lucky enough to read it. The conclusion is satisfying, giving the message that girls can do whatever they want. Even better, it is the first in a series, so we can look forward to more thrilling adventures featuring Dracula & Daughters!

320 pages/ Reviewed by Beverley Somerset, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 9+

Just when you think you know the work of Emma Carroll, she throws you a curveball and produces this fabulous gothic tale, with a very different take on the family of Dracula.

Dracula and Daughters begins with Mina sneaking over to the town cemetery in order to steal a corpse. She hopes that this will gain her an entry to train to be a doctor, something that is forbidden in her home of Temstown. Unfortunately, she is seen by the undertaker's daughter, Bella, and then they are both chased by the local police; but this is after they discover that the chosen grave and coffin have been opened from the inside. Does this mean that, after a break of 20 years, vampires are once again making an appearance?

Well, what follows is a roller-coaster of a ride, as ancient secrets are revealed and they discover they are related to the infamous Count Dracula. The question is whether they can save the city from a new wave of vampires, not by killing, but by curing them?

Dracula and Daughters is the first in a series featuring these young vampire 'healers', and I am already longing for the next episode to come along. The story is very much about the way young women are treated in society, and in this Temstown the girls cannot take up a profession and are treated as inferior to their male counterparts. A five-star gem, Emma Carroll.

320 pages / Reviewed by Margaret Pemberton, librarian

Suggested Reading Age 9+