Tillinghast — based on a real 19th-century vampire epidemic — follows Stutley Tillinghast, a vampire priest living a solitary existence. He’s had little contact with humans until the arrival of a mysterious stranger whose presence threatens to upend the isolated life he has built. As a lover of all things gothic and vampiric, I was immediately intrigued. The beautiful cover certainly helped pull me in as well.
Where Tillinghast Falls Short
Unfortunately, several aspects of this debut novel pulled me out of the experience and, at times, left me genuinely bored. The prose, while competent, felt strangely flat. Not every vampire novel needs lush, florid writing, of course, but I’ve come to associate the genre with a stronger sense of atmosphere and sensuality.
For a vampire — and a relatively young one at that — Stutley Tillinghast seems to know remarkably little about either humans or vampires. Variations of “he had no idea” and “he couldn’t tell” appear so frequently that I eventually started wondering: what does he know? Since he’s also the central character, his repetitive internal monologue becomes difficult to overlook, especially against the backdrop of a glacially paced plot.
Vampires are supposed to make me feel something. Desire, horror, melancholy — anything. Think of The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, where the vampires practically drip with emotion and atmosphere. Here, though, the dominant feeling was indifference.
Unfortunately, this is not the first contemporary vampire novel that has left me cold. Perhaps it’s time for a re-read of The Vampire Chronicles, just to feel something again.
Thank you to Viking Penguin for giving me an advanced copy of Tillinghast by Clare Cavenagh. Publication Date: June 23, 2026
Readers interested in modern interpretations of the vampire may also want to check out my review of Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling, which uses vampirism to explore themes of motherhood, labor, and bodily autonomy.
Part of The Vampire Archives
This review is part of my ongoing Vampire Archives project, where I explore vampire folklore, literature, and the evolution of the vampire across cultures and time periods. If you’d like to follow the series from the beginning, check out The Vampire Archives: An Introduction.