Maria Valdemi

: A vampiric Russian prince and a consumptive young Italian woman, meet and fall in love in the late 1800s Genoa.

How to describe this story. I mean there are so many poor brooding vampire stories, and how its so awful to be immortally beautiful/rick. But this is one of the best that I've ever encountered. You won't find this book outside of a used bookstore, but if you see it, buy it. It has this incredible, formal, rich texture.

Now, I must mention that I was a literature major in college. I like books that quote. And oh, they quote and reference and sink into the richness that is literature.

At the beginning of the story, the Prince, Pavel Baranov and Marisa Gioia read Lermontov’s poem "The Demon", which is more than a little obscure, but wonderfully Russian and brooding. It is a poem which them permeates the rest of the book, as they talk about Keats, Shelley, Pushkin, Dante, well more writers than I can mention.

Not much happens. They go to nearby Genoa. Visit the seashore. Light candles for the dead. The Prince kills a fair number of people. Marisa is very sick. Dying. They both come to terms with who and what they are, what they will become, with love. All in this wonderful luminous language.… (altro)