''The Delicate Dependency: A Novel of the Vampire Life'' is a 1982

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

novel by Michael Talbot.

Plot

In Victorian London, widowed Dr. John Gladstone runs over a beautiful young man named Niccolo Cavalanti with his carriage. When others at the hospital begin to notice the injured man's unnatural healing ability, Gladstone shelters a recovering Niccolo in his home, and soon learns that the kind man is a vampire. Niccolo befriends both of Gladstone's daughters, the coming of age Ursula and the blind toddler Camille, and then disappears with Camille. Accompanied by Lady Hespeth Dunaway, a woman whose son was also abducted by Niccolo, Gladstone sets off to find his daughter.

Publication

''The Delicate Dependency'' was published by

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles rea ...

on March 28, 1982, and eventually went out of print. It was republished by

Valancourt Books Valancourt Books is an independent American publishing house founded by James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle in 2005. The company specializes in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction," in particular gay titles and Gothic and ho ...

in 2014.

Reception

In ''Encyclopedia of the Vampire'', Darrell Schweitzer called the novel "one of the most impressive explorations of a vampire mind ever written".''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' called ''The Delicate Dependency'' "ambitious, "impressive", and "unflaggingly interesting.”

Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels '' The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has mai ...

noted of the novel, "The tension builds page by page to a stunning climax ... I doubt that I will ever forget it.” '' Fangoria'' named ''The Delicate Dependency'' as one of its "Top 10 Vampire Novels" in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delicate Dependency, The 1982 American novels American horror novels American vampire novels Avon (publisher) books