Hide Me among the Graves

Summary

Winter 1862, London. Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute,arrives on the doorstep of veterinarian John Crawford, a man she met once sevenyears earlier. Their brief meeting produced a child who, until now, had beenpresumed dead. McKee has learned that the girl lives—but that her life and soulare in mortal peril from a vampiric ghost. But this is no ordinary spirit; thebloodthirsty wraith is none other than John Polidori, the onetime physician tothe mad, bad, and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both McKee and Crawfordhave mysterious histories with creatures like Polidori, and their child is aprize the malevolent spirit covets dearly.

Polidori is also the late uncle and supernatural muse to poetChristina Rossetti and her brother, painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. When shewas just fourteen, Christina unwittingly brought Polidori’s curse upon herfamily. But the curse bestowed unexpected blessings as well, inspiring both Christinaand Gabriel’s work. But when Polidori resurrects Dante’s dead wife—turning herinto a vampire—and threatens other family members, Christina and Dante agree theymust destroy their monstrous uncle and break the spell, even if it means theend of their creative powers.

Determined to save their daughter, McKee and Crawford joinforces with the Rossettis, and soon these wildly mismatched allies are plungedinto a supernatural London underworld whose existence goes beyond their wildestimaginings. Ultimately, each of these disparate individuals—the sensitive poet,the tortured painter, the straitlaced animal doctor, the reformed prostitute,and even their Artful Dodger–like young daughter—must choose between thebanality and constraints of human life and the unholy immortality that Polidorioffers.

Sweeping from the mansions of London’s high society toits grimy slums, the elegant salons of the West End to the pre-Roman catacombsbeneath St. Paul’s Cathedral, Hide Me among the Graves blendsthe historical and the supernatural in a dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thrillride—a modern horror story with a Victorian twist.