CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Dr. John Polidori
38 Great Pulteney Street
Soho
London, England
May 1819
Darling John,
Word of your novel has reached us here in Italy. Everyone we have met is ecstatic with the horror you’ve created. Such a creature! Such a scandal!
Already there is talk of enacting it on the stage, much to Lord Byron’s chagrin. He is upset people believe he is the author, even more so that you named your vampyre Lord Ruthven, a name he’s despised since Lady Caroline Lamb published Glenarvon, her Ruthven no less than a thinly disguised caricature of Byron. A bit of revenge after their notorious liaison.
How delightful!
At a dinner party last evening, I was advised by a correspondent of Herr Beethoven that the composer himself was captivated by your prose and the horror of you
