Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson

with an introduction by Stephen King

See other Novels and Modern Classics click here

New softcover book. 736 pages.

Three of the finest horror novels of all time come together in an omnibus edition that explores the dark sides of human nature in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker's vampire classic Dracula, and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, accompanied by an introduction by horror master Stephen King.

A scientist oversteps the bounds of conscience and brings to life a tortured creation. A young adventurer succumbs to the night world of a diabolic count. A man of medicine explores his darker side only to fall prey to it. They are the legendary tales that have held readers spellbound for more than a century. The titles alone - Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - have become part of a universal language that serves to put a monster's face on the good-and-evil duality of a very human nature. And the authors - Mary Shelley, Bram Stiker, and Robert Louis Stevenson - equally as mythic, are still possessed of an inventive and subversive power that can shake a reader to this day with something far more profound than fear. They gave root to the modern horror novel, and like the creatures they invented, they've achieved immortality.

About the Authors

The childhood of Mary Shelley (1797 – 1851), sounds rather like a dark fairy-tale. Her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, died giving birth to her and she was brought up by a remote father and a step-mother who hated her. Her step-sister was a depressive and later committed suicide and Mary had little in common with her step-brother or her half-brother. As a young girl, she escaped into books and would often read by the side of her mother's tomb.

In 1813 Mary met Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was only twenty-one but was already unhappily married. He was destined to be one of the geniuses of English poetry. The two fell in love and eloped, despite Mary's age. Her father, William Godwin, disowned her, but still she and Shelley were married in 1816. They settled in Italy but tragedy seemed to follow them. Only one of their four children lived very long and then, in 1822, when he was just thirty, Shelley was drowned. Mary lived for another thirty years but she lost the promise that she had shown in the company of her brilliant husband and his friends, such as the poet Lord Byron. The single book that we remember her for belonged to her happy time in Italy. It was Byron who suggested in 1817, that they each write a horror story. The result in Mary's case, was Frankenstein. As well as being creepier than most other books in the genre, Frankenstein has a far better story-line and is in the end, both moving and tragic. Amazingly, a young girl of twenty gave us the book whose name has become synonymous with horror.

Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847 - 1912), was always unwell when he was an infant - he couldn't stand up until he was seven years old - yet he became a champion athlete when at university at Trinity College, Dublin. Like so many children whose health is poor Bram had lots of time to read and developed a passion for literature.

After university, Bram followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Irish Civil Service in Dublin. He was soon bored and so built on his love of theatre to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail. He met Sir Henry Irving, the most famous actor of the time - the two became friends and from 1878 until Irving's death in 1905, Bram Stoker's main job was as the actor's manager and secretary. At the same time he was working as a writer. He wrote a dozen books but is remembered today for just one - Dracula, published in 1897. It is still regarded as a masterpiece of the macabre with its evil monsters and gripping story-line. Dracula was an immediate success and has remained popular ever since. There have been many film versions of the story but none has captured the atmosphere and mounting terror of the original book.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) began to write for English magazines while in his twenties. In 1880, he married Fanny Osbourne, and the balance of his life was devoted to unremitting work and a search for health that took him to many corners of the world. He lived a short but productive life, and his books are characterised by well-wrought style, vivid imagination, memorable action and mastery of suspense. Stevenson's Calvinistic upbringing gave him a preoccupation with pre-destination and a fascination with the presence of evil. In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde he explores the darker side of the human psyche.

The Penguin Classics publication of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson is also available - click here for more information

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, with introduction by Stephen King