Long Time Dead

Samara Breger's novel is a Victorian romance steeped in blood and emotional turmoil, following two women whose bond is meant to outlast death. In 1837, somewhere misty and remote, Poppy wakes in a stranger's house far from London. She is weak and bewildered, gripped by a fierce hunger for blood, and she soon learns that she can no longer go out in daylight. Poppy had always preferred the night, so the change is not entirely unwelcome.

The new life brings real advantages: she will never age or die, her body can race for hours without tiring, and she discovers the rush of being a hunter, able to pounce on a rabbit in the undergrowth and sink her fangs into it. Guiding her through this existence is Roisin, a mysterious woman who has lived for centuries. Roisin stayed with Poppy through her agonizing transformation and now teaches her how to live with her endless life. Roisin is reserved, lonely, and rigidly composed, yet beneath that stiff exterior is real tenderness and concern. Their time together reshapes Poppy as much as her changing body does, and before long she is helplessly drawn in.

Roisin, however, keeps secrets of her own and cannot promise Poppy anything, since a need for revenge comes first. Their fragile routine is soon shattered. Along the way the pair cross paths with other vampires, dishonest pirates, scheming opera singers, ancient aristocrats, stylish French women, and a chosen family that throws a most unusual kind of party. A looming danger hangs over them all: a single woman with the power to destroy everything Poppy and Roisin care about.