''The Lady of the Shroud'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published by William Heinemann in 1909. The book is an

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

, narrated in the first person via letters and diary extracts from various characters, but mainly Rupert. The initial sections, leading up to the reading of the uncle's will, told by other characters, suggest that Rupert is the black sheep of the family, and the conditions of having to live in the castle in the Blue Mountains for a year before he can permanently inherit the unexpectedly large million-pound estate suggest the uncle is somehow testing the heir.

Plot summary

Rupert Saint Leger inherits his uncle's estate worth more than one million pounds, on condition that he live for a year in his uncle's castle in the Land of the Blue Mountains on the

Dalmatian coast Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

. There Rupert tries to win the trust of the conservative mountaineer population by using his fortune to buy them modern arms (from a South American country that has unexpectedly found itself at peace) for their fight against Turkish invasion (the story was written shortly before the Balkan Wars). One wet night, he is visited in his room in the castle by a pale woman wearing a wet shroud, seeking warmth. He lets her dry herself before his fire, and she flees before morning. She visits several more times, all at night, and they hardly speak, but he falls in love with her, despite thinking she is a vampire. He visits the local church and finds her in a glass-topped stone coffin in the crypt. Despite misgivings he declares his love, be she living or undead, and she arranges the marriage in an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

ceremony conducted by candlelight in the church one night, although he still does not know her name, and she says she must still live alone in the crypt for the present. Soon afterwards, she is kidnapped by a forward party of Turkish troops, and he learns that she, Teuta, is not undead, but the living daughter of the local

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...

, who is currently returning from a visit to America. She had fallen into a trance, and was declared dead, but then revived, and the local leaders and clergy spread a story of

vampirism 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 dea ...

which was more acceptable than the truth to the uneducated locals, after the (mistaken) news of her death. Living up to this story, she had spent her days in the coffin in the crypt, but during heavy rain when the crypt flooded, came out seeking warmth in the castle in which she had grown up, and knew all the secret entrances, and hence her meetings with Rupert behind locked gates. Rupert leads a relief force which kills her kidnappers and rescues her. But news immediately arrives that the Voivode has just returned to the country only to be kidnapped by Turks himself. They race back to the coast, and Rupert unloads an aeroplane with a near-silent engine from the munitions ship which has also just arrived, along with sets of bullet-proof clothes. The kidnapped Voivode is tracked to a nearby castle ruin, and Rupert pilots the plane onto the castle wall as if it were a balloon or dirigible, and lowers Teuta by rope to her father. He dons a set of the bullet proof clothes which Teuta and Rupert are also wearing, and Rupert hauls both up to the aircraft which he silently flies off. The castle is then attacked by local troops and the Turks defeated. Teuta subsequently reveals her marriage to Rupert to her father, who welcomes him into the family and the country.

Characters

*Rupert Sent (St.) Leger, the hero and main narrator *Teuta Vissarion, the 'Lady of the Shroud', feigning to be undead to keep her people's minds calm. *Aunt Janet (MacKelpie), Rupert's Scottish aunt, with second-sight, who moves to the Balkans to be with him. *Peter Vissarion, Teuta's father and Voivode of the Blue Mountains. *Ernest Melton. A relative of Rupert's, a minor character and narrator of the first section of the novel, leading up to the reading of the dead uncle's will in which Rupert inherits instead.

References

External links

*
Full text and PDF editions
at Bram Stoker Online * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lady of the Shroud, The 1909 British novels 1909 fantasy novels British novellas Epistolary novels Heinemann (publisher) books Novels by Bram Stoker Novels set in Montenegro