Vampires: marginalised, blood-sucking, sexy … it’s hard to avoid these glamorous, dangerous creatures as they hold sway over the Western imagination. But, as the Twilight generation eagerly flocks to the cinema to watch film after film, do we really understand how and why these mythical creatures have come to dominate popular culture? And, more importantly, how do women feature in this phenomenon – in our so-called ‘modern’ society does an empowered vampire queen exist, or are we all just lusting after Edward?

In this innovative analysis of folklore and Anglo-American literature, Nancy Schumann explores the representation of vampires and vampiresses from the Romantic era through to the Post-Modern. Tracing the development of blood-sucking figures from their origin through to Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, before concluding with the Twilight and True Blood sagas, Take a Bite is a thorough and engaging analysis that puts women centre stage. Looking at both popular and less well-known texts, this engaging study tells the untold stories of vampiresses for the first time.