The Dead Travel Fast (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

• Theodora Lestrange: A writer, living in Scotland
• Charles Beecroft: Theodora's publisher; he is in love with Theodora and has proposed marriage. He is 15 years older than Theodora.
• Cosmina: Theodora's oldest friend from school.
• Eugenia Dragulescu: The Countess, widow of Count Bogdan, mother to Count Andrei
• Count Andrei Dragulescu: Betrothed of Cosmina, son of the countess
• Dr. Ferenc Frankopan: The doctor for the Countess Dragulescu
• Frau Amsel: Countess Dragulescu's companion
• Florian Amsel: Son of Clara, steward of the castle
• Count Bogdan: Father of Count Andrei, husband to the Countess, recently deceased
• Tatiana: Sister to the Countess, mother of Cosmina
• Tereza: Housemaid at the Dragulescu castle
• Aurelia: Sister of Tereza
• Frau Graben: The cook at the castle.
• Madame Popa: Dr. Frankopen's servent
• Tycho: Count Andrei's dog, possibly part wolf hound
• Anna: Theodora's sister
• William: Husband to Anna
• Mrs. Muldoon: Anna and Williams house servant

Quotes edit see section history

• “But what could possibly happen to me in Transylvania.”

  Theodora

• “I have sampled women the world over, from courtesans to countesses, and I can tell you there are only three types of women who matter in a man's life--those he marries, those he seduces and those he takes. I have only to tailor my behavior to become whatever the lady in question wants me to be and I am assured of success.”

  Count Andrei Dragulescu

• “I gave you the measure of my character early on in our acquaintance, but I have found it is a peculiar affliction of women that they will believe what they want of a man and ignore what he is, no matter how base, how vicious. A woman sees in a man only what she wishes to make of him.'”

  Count Andrei Dragulescu

• “'We all of us require love,' I replied. 'You think me childish and silly for clinging to the promise of it, but it is human to want happiness, and if there is happiness without love I am not convinced of it.'”

  Theodora Lestrange

• “'If you want apologies, I will make you none,' he said fiercely. 'I wanted you and I knew what to give you to make you surrender. Yes, it was calculated and deliberate, but it was not malicious. I had my conjurer's tricks and I used them well. Even now you do not know what to make of me, and I will not own what I am. I want you to think of me when you leave this place and wonder whether I am merely a mortal or something beyond. a better man would release you and want you to love another. I am no better man. I am selfish and flawed and I have nothing to offer you that is not broken or imperfect, including myself. And so I offer you nothing. But I will love you until the day I die, and no man will love you more.'”

  Count Andrei Dragulescu

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “It costs me nothing to share, therefore it is not generous,” he corrected. “When someone offers what he can ill afford to give, only then may he be judged generous.”

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• there is nothing quite like a warm bed in a cold room to make one feel all is right with the world.

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• “I believe in the human heart, and the power of it to love, even when such love is unwise or even unwanted. It is an enduring thing, love is. It will weather the fiercest storm and stand, bowed but unbroken. And when life is gone, love itself may still live on. That is what I find extraordinary, my lady.”

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• “When the light has fled but the stars have not yet shown themselves. That is the gloaming, the loveliest and saddest hour of the day.”

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• Perhaps the only thing that saved me from madness that night was that I did not believe in anything. I carried no faith in my heart, only questions, and in the end, it was the questions that saved me.

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• Light and dark, good and evil, angel and demon. Two halves of a darkling moon. If we believed in the comforts of the one, we must believe in the terrors of the other.

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• to tell the tales, the storyteller must believe. Can you not believe, even a little?”

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• It is said that any love affair begun in the shadows of Venus will last an eternity, for it is blessed by the goddess herself.”

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• But first, on earth as vampire sent Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent; Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood from all thy race.

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• It is with true love as it is with ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen. —François de la Rochefoucauld

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Edinburgh, Scotland: Where Theodora resides with Anna, her sister and, William, her brother-in-law.
• Klausenberg, Romania: A town in the Transylvanian region of Romania where Theodora spends the night. Travelers were advised not to drink the water because its source was springs that ran through graveyards.
• Hermannstadt, Translyvania: Town located at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains where Theodora departs via carriage up into the Transylvanian Alps.
• Castle Dragulescu: Residence of the Countess Dragulescu, Cosmina's aunt.
• London, England

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• strigoi morti: The dead who will not rest. Vampires.
• strigoi vii: Living men who have given up their immortal soul who draw sustenance from the life force of those around them. They are doomed to become strigoi mort after their deaths.
• mamaliga: porridge
• dhampir: One who can send the strigoi back to the grave. Andrei is the last of the Dragulescu's dhampirs.

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Deanna Raybourn (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PN6231
• Dewey: 813

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Romance › Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost
• Books › Romance › Gothic
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Romance › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Author's Website

More Books Like This edit see section history