Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The story is presented as a series of journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, chronicling the efforts of a group of people to stop Count Dracula, a centuries-old vampire, from spreading his undead curse beyond Transylvania and into England. The novel begins with English solicitor Jonathan Harker traveling to Dracula's castle in Transylvania, where he quickly becomes a prisoner. Dracula then travels to England, where he begins feeding on and corrupting the young Lucy Westenra. Her friends and family-joined by the enigmatic Professor Abraham Van Helsing-band together to uncover Dracula's secrets and stop him before he can establish a new stronghold in the modern world. Dracula is widely credited with popularizing the modern image of the vampire. Its blend of supernatural horror, psychological tension, and Victorian anxieties about science, sexuality, and modernity has secured its status as a cornerstone of horror literature and a lasting influence on vampire fiction and pop culture.