Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron

New York: Pocket Books, 1996. CS3 - An advance reading copy paperback book in very good condition that has some bumped corners, moderate tanning and light shelf wear. 9"x6", 325 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. It was the custom then for men such as myself, well-bred and hopelessly in debt, to perform a tour of the Continent.... I wanted to sample new pleasures, new sensations and delights.... The famed nineteenth-century romantic poet and rake, Lord Byron, comes to life with incendiary brilliance in Tom Holland's LORD OF THE DEAD. Rousingly acclaimed in England, this spellbinding blend of gothic imagination and documented fact blazes across the contemporary fiction scene with all the hypnotic power of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and the hauntingly authentic settings that distinguished Caleb Carr's The Alienist. Wandering with his friend Hobhouse in the mountains of Greece, Byron is drawn to the beauty of a mysterious fugitive slave whose pale, slim body and burning, black-fringed eyes arouse his lust; soon Byron is utterly entranced, and his fate is sealed. The supreme sensualist embarks on a life of adventure even his genius could not have foreseen - that of the world's most formidable vampire. Chosen to enjoy powers beyond those any vampire has ever known, Byron enters a dark, intoxicating world, traversing centuries of long-lost secrets, ancient arts and scorching excesses of evil. From the Levant to London's salons, from the frozen Alps to the dark languors of Venice, he drinks deeply of terror and sex, ever more desperate to destroy his need for the most forbidden of desires. But his diversions, delicious and cruel, are suffused with the rich scent of doom. Byron's gift is also his torment: an all-consuming thirst that withers life at the root, damning those he loves.... Like a shower of blood gleaming on fresh snow, LORD OF THE DEAD captures us in its spell, page by mesmerizing page. Once begun, it cannot be resisted; this dazzling tour de force will piece you the core with intense, lingering pleasure. Richly layering his story with wonderfully imagined characters, Tom Holland conjures up a fever dream of a novel, a tantalizing version of Byron's life, and a marvelously entertaining read.. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC).