author
E. (Emily) Gerard
1849–1905
Remembered for vivid writing on Transylvania, this Scottish author helped shape the folklore that later fed into Bram Stoker's Dracula. Her travel writing and fiction brought Eastern Europe to Victorian readers with curiosity, atmosphere, and a sharp eye for local custom.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Scotland in 1849, Emily Gerard became known as a novelist and travel writer with a strong interest in Central and Eastern Europe. After marrying a Polish officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, she spent time in places including Transylvania, experiences that gave her material for some of her best-known writing.
She is especially associated with The Land Beyond the Forest and the essay Transylvanian Superstitions, works that introduced many English-language readers to the region's legends, beliefs, and everyday life. Those writings are now often noted for their influence on Bram Stoker when he was developing Dracula.
Gerard also wrote fiction and worked with her sister Dorothea Gerard on several books. She died in Vienna in 1905, but her name still appears whenever readers trace the literary roots of vampire lore and Victorian fascination with Transylvania.