The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I love vampires. I do not wish to see them in person, but I love to read about them, especially in fiction books. I always am fascinated when authors try to twist the story of the vampire and relate them to ordinary, mortal people like ourselves.
In The Historian, a young English girl discovers an old book of her father's with a wood carving of a dragon on the cover and several letters addressed to "my dear and unfortunate successor". When she confronts him about it, her father begins telling her about his quest during his university days for the legend...