Immortal Desire is a journey through history and an exquisite account of a female vampire’s quest for love.
We first meet Constance de Musset as a human in the year 1170. She expresses her true love for the talented and beautiful Chrétien de Troyes. Just as she and Chrétien share their first passionate kiss, Constance is torn from her paramour by Apollainaire Francois Villon, the vampire who would now become her Master. Unable to know the human love she desired and almost obtained, Constance engages in a battle of will with Apollainaire that will last until the mid-1600s when their bond reaches a shocking crescendo that sends Apollainaire away from Constance.
Thinking that Apollainaire has perished in the fires of London, Constance feels abandoned again and sets out in search of love. With the assistance of Don Diego Calderón; the ancient vampire Apollainaire brought into her life as a caretaker in his absence, Constance is groomed for London society. It is there that she meets her mortal husband, Lord Palmer Leicester. Constance becomes an integral part of London ladies circles and enjoys her marriage with vigor. She also realizes that a human and vampire cannot fully love one another in the way that she desires.
When Palmer meets an untimely demise, Constance embraces the arts to explore friendships with many renowned characters. Having previously encountered Michelangelo, Mozart, Beethoven, Constance is no stranger to creative genius. She becomes best friends with Oscar Wilde, has an unlikely love affair with Bram Stoker, converses with Mary Shelley and causes all the artists she encounters to long for the opportunity to paint her portrait; which she grants to Basil Ward.
During her time in London among the artistic elite, Constance publishes her novel Confessions of a Lady Vampire which is devoured by the public and creates a turn of events that only a vampire could produce. She even manages to avoid all daytime activity due to a “sensitivity to light” claiming a genetic deficiency. Brilliant!
Spanning seven centuries and much of the world, Constance’s quest for love, complete with an unexpected discovery at its end, contains a wealth of literary characters and rich historical imagery. In this lady vampire’s quest for love lies an undeniably solid foundation of research and fact checking. Linda Lee Talbert surpasses expectations with her extensive quotation and accuracy of period descriptions. Immortal Desire presents the vampire in love; not as a predatory abomination: a refreshing new perspective indeed.
Reviewed by Keri English for IndieReader