In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westerna is killed by Dracula while the heroes figure out how to save Mina, the heroine of the book. Like most “final girls” in horror stories Mina is sensible, not like other girls, and doesn’t even seem to notice that she’s pretty. Lucy on the other hand is aware of her beauty, has many suitors, and is impulsive and emotional and is therefore deemed by the narrative less worthy of being saved. She’s treated as a disposable character to gain sympathy from the audience and heighten the stakes as the heroes fight to save Mina.

 In short, Lucy Westerna deserved better and in the beautifully told Gothic tale Lucy Undying, Kiersten White gives her just that. 

Lucy Undying is told, like Bran Stoker’s Dracula, in an epistolary format. We follow Lucy through a series of letters, diary entries and therapy transcripts in multiple timelines as she changes from a young heiress in the 1800s who never felt safe enough to be her true self, suffocated by expectations, to a world weary jaded vampire in present day who has been through two world wars and been both an assassin and a spy. 

As a teenager, Lucy is preyed upon by Dracula in the midst of heartbreak she doesn’t even know how to put words to. She is abandoned by everyone who claims to care about her, who see her as too foolish and childish to be consulted or informed in their flimsy attempts to rescue her. Despite having three eligible men who claim to be in love with her, no one actually knows her or understands her. To them she is just an object to enhance their own sense of worth, not an actual living breathing human with her own needs and feelings. This is never more evident than when she comes to them after she has been killed by Dracula.

“And do you know what they did,”  Lucy tells her therapist ”when I, the object of their mutual desire and lust, revealed myself ready at last to embrace them on my own terms? They recoiled in disgust and horror.” Pg 28

Lucy blames herself for her own vulnerability in allowing herself to be killed by Dracula and for how her family treated her before he appeared outside her window. She recalls that she “always twisted myself into unpleasant shapes in order to be accepted.” Pg 95. Once she becomes a vampire she muddles through her undead existence looking for a sense of meaning to her unlife. As she discovers her undead power of turning into moonlight she says 

“I was always good at moonlight though, because moonlight isn’t real either. It’s just a wan reflection of someone else’s light.” Pg 38

Lucy meets other traumatized vampires in her travels who have also been victimized by Dracula, including two of his brides, a Chinese assassin known as “the Queen”, a Byzantium intellect known as “the Doctor” and a Parisian party girl known as “the Lover”. They are each forgotten girls like Lucy, preyed upon by Dracula because society didn’t deem them worthy enough to be protected. They are unique, vibrant women who ultimately cope with their trauma in their own ways and help each other become stronger. 

“We’re mausoleums,” Lucy says ”holding the girls we were with tenderness, and love, and strength. His violence turned us into our own unhallowed ground, our own safe spaces to rest, carried with us wherever we go.” Pg 404

Lucy herself is still trapped in the immeasurable heartbreak that led her into Dracula’s arms. The pain of it lingers even in her unlife at the core of who she believes herself to be. She struggles to make herself whole, to understand who she is through the loss she has suffered.

“Have you ever been moonlight in a sun drenched world?” She asks. “Scattered and blown apart by light so much greater than your own? It took me ages to gather the particles of myself. I’d be so close, nearly there, and the sun would be back in its merciless honesty. I nearly stopped existing then, I think. At least in any form recognizable as myself.” Pg 109

Mysteries and conspiracies begin to unravel in the slow dark crawl of the truly Gothic. Kiersten White writes such beautiful poetic prose that you will be as lost in her intricate weave of words as much as the tightly woven threads of story as they come together to reveal a tapestry of betrayal and control that can only be unwoven by love. Real, deep love that teaches Lucy to love herself and every foolish thing she’d ever done trying to earn love from others. The sapphic love story interwoven into this rich Gothic tale of healing is both sweet and real, equal parts passion and support. Lucy’s new love helps her finally face Dracula and the deep pain of the betrayal she has suffered, but more importantly being loved shows her how to really and truly love herself.

Once she has learned to love herself Lucy reclaims her own narrative. She reframes her trauma and learns to recognize it for what it was. By realizing that Dracula is a true monster who hurt her for no other reason than that he could, she is able to forgive herself and reclaim her power. 

“I see exactly the way he left me vulnerable and unable to fight back. The manipulation that had me questioning whether I had somehow wanted that to happen, whether it was my fault, whether I deserved it. The way he turned my guilt and confusion back on me, making me feel complicit in my own assault.” Pg 403

 By the end of Lucy Undying, Lucy is no longer the forgotten girl deemed less worthy of saving. She takes control of her own story and fights to build a loving community around herself and cultivates her own sense of self worth. She is no longer the disposable girl but cherished and loved and empowered as she always deserved to be. 

“Several things break inside me, but what is a wall, a wall is nothing, what is a body, a body is nothing. I am moonlight, I am death, the sun might bind me but it cannot stop me.” Pg 380

You should read Lucy Undying. It’s really good and I just can’t stop talking about it.

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