YA
Black River
Ruby Jean Cottle
Atria Books, $29.99
Vampires have been seducing writers for centuries, and just like sucking blood from an open vein, we readers have greedily consumed their stories. Our appetite for the ageless, doomed and desirable remains insatiable, and while most of us wouldn’t willingly invite one into our homes, we’re more than happy to invite them into our hearts and minds.
There’s another reason the idea of the vampire perseveres – they are the perfect canvas on which creators can project countless variations. From cool to camp, and folkloric to psychotic, literary OGs include John Polidori’s The Vampyre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, to the more recent, such as Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda, Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire series, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab, and The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran.
When there’s this much literary history to draw on, a reader can’t help but compare, yet in Black River, Sydney-based writer Ruby Jean Cottle has created a uniquely reluctant, book-loving vampire. Seventeen-year-old Dusty (named after Dusty Springfield) cuts her own hair, hates social media and lives on White Mountain with her conservation officer dad, and eternally upbeat younger sister Opi (Ophelia), who gives off major Edith from Wednesday vibes. Mum Sarah “left” when Dusty was 12, and her absence continues to cast a shadow over the family.
Surrounded by the unsettling Appalachian wilderness, their house is the oldest on the mountain, and something of an emotional museum. Dusty’s grandparents, both hugely influential figures in her life, lived there until their deaths, and her grandfather’s study remains untouched.
When Dusty’s sister, Opi, suggests a quick before-school forage for their favourite mushrooms (that can only be found in early June), Dusty reluctantly agrees. Both girls are at home in the forest, but while clambering around, they become separated, and Dusty senses a menacing presence before experiencing a life-altering transformation.
Ruby Jean Cottle is bringing vampires back.Credit: Gary Heery
Cottle shows a lot of restraint here; it’s a bloodless, low-key moment, and it’s only until things begin to escalate – coma-length naps, waking up covered in dirt, and an insatiable craving too horrifying to name – that Dusty realises things are far from normal. It’s also a signal to readers that this isn’t your traditional vampire novel.
Black River is a peculiar hybrid: part romance, with fantasy elements and a hint of science fiction, there’s also faint echoes of Twilight, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. Cottle’s heroine, however, has an appealing depth of character and feels more fully realised. If anything, she shares more emotional DNA with legendary small-screen slayer Buffy Summers.