Joy Lahman

I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome. Few opening moments in literature set a scene as effectively as Jonathan Harker's arrival at Castle Dracula. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel has never been out of print, has spawned countless adaptations, and gave birth to one of fiction's most enduring figures. But here's the thing — most people think they know Dracula. Very few have actually read him. A Novel Told in Letters and Diaries One of the most remarkable things about Dracula is its form. Stoker wrote...

As you wish. Two words. And yet, in William Goldman's 1973 novel — and Rob Reiner's beloved 1987 film adaptation — they carry the weight of a lifetime of devotion. The Princess Bride is one of those rare stories that manages to be everything at once: a swashbuckling adventure, a fairy tale romance, a sharp comedy, and a surprisingly moving meditation on love. The Story Within the Story What makes The Princess Bride so clever is its framing device. A grandfather reads a book to his sick...

In the quiet town of Marigold Hollow, tucked between rustling wheat fields and the hum of passing freight trains, lived a girl named Eliza. She was sixteen and had already lived in seven different houses, each with its own set of rules, smells, and silences. Her suitcase was small, but her heart carried the weight of every goodbye. Eliza didn’t believe in forever. Not in homes, not in promises, and certainly not in love. She had seen couples argue behind closed doors, watched foster siblings...