In the Valley of the Shadow

About Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker was born November 8, 1847, in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a civil servant, and his mother was a charity worker and writer. Stoker studied math at Trinity College in Dublin and graduated in 1867, after which he became a civil servant. At this time, he also worked as a freelance journalist, a drama critic, and editor of the Evening Mail. In 1876, he met Sir Henry Irving, a famous actor. Stoker accepted a job as personal secretary to Irving and went to England in 1878. Before he left Ireland, he published his first book, The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland. While working for Irving he met an aspiring actress named Florence Balcombe. They married in 1878 and had one son, Noel, who was born in 1879. In England, Stoker also began writing a series of short stories and novels, the first of which was The Snake's Pass. Although best known for Dracula, Stoker wrote eighteen books before he died in 1912.