The Mystery of the Sea • Bram Stoker

This year my vacation once again took me to the sea, and I chose my reading to match. A book from the mare classics series is a safe bet for excellent literature with the appropriate whiff of sea air. Not long ago I read Dracula by Stoker and found its classic, tightly wrought atmosphere very compelling. But what awaits the reader in The Mystery of the Sea?

The protagonist, Archie Hunter, travels to the Scottish coast, where he meets an eccentric old woman who tells him of a secret of the sea. He sets out to uncover it and is soon entangled in an ancient riddle. Along the way he meets the mysterious and beautiful American Marjory, with whom he quickly falls in love. A breakneck adventure begins, its origins stretching back to the sixteenth century, hurling Archie from one danger to the next.

To be honest, I didn’t read the jacket blurb beforehand. For me it was clear the book would simply be good. I liked Stoker’s Dracula, even if I found it a touch long. The Mystery of the Sea is divided into numerous, fairly short chapters and reads very quickly and smoothly. It has that lovely language and narrative mode you really only find in the older classics and adventure novels. I enjoyed it a great deal. I was quickly drawn into the story, and when the love story involving Marjory began (which happens fairly early), I was all in. The book is an adventure novel in the vein of Dumas, Stevenson, or Verne. Simply good.

The pacing is good and a lot happens. I liked the mix: it’s a horror story, a Gothic novel, an adventure tale, a classic—it has a bit of everything. Its focus keeps shifting and you find all sorts of elements: an ancient, mysterious castle; a love story; breathless chases; a treasure hunt; attractive (and not overlong) landscape descriptions. It’s a colorful blend that still feels coherent and plays like a film in your mind. The arc of suspense is very well done, too, and you stay engaged right to the end.

Stoker packs some clever ideas into the book—for instance a secret code that’s central to the plot. It reminded me of Verne’s “The Jangada: Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon”, where a decryption is also a source of tension. Stoker even includes, in an appendix, the binary code and his modification of it. Nowadays that cipher would be quite impractical and could be cracked quickly through statistical analysis. But the idea of concealing messages this way is intriguing, and it could work—especially if the binary signs were hidden in varied typefaces or similarly hard-to-spot structures.

I liked Marjory very much, because she doesn’t conform to the prevailing image of women at the time. She’s self-confident and self-determined, even if Stoker softens that a bit as the story goes on. You can still sense the antiquated view of women that was common then. It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a book written around the turn of the century. But the story benefits from it, and Marjory in particular gives the book its essential spice.

In terms of language, I found the book very successful. Alexander Pechmann’s translation is, as usual, excellent. He has already translated several volumes in the mare classics series, so it was clear everything here would fit. I found the short chapters very pleasant—especially on vacation, where you’re often interrupted, they provide helpful breaks. The afterword is informative and interesting, exactly as it should be.

Bram Stoker, born in 1847, was Irish, and his life story is fascinating. The third of seven children, he was ill until the age of seven and could neither stand nor walk. His recovery was considered a miracle by doctors, and he went on to become an athlete and an excellent footballer. At Trinity College he studied history, literature, mathematics, and physics. I find the breadth of his talents and interests remarkable, and it’s reflected in his books. He was a theater critic, magazine editor, manager to Henry Irving, and an agent for Mark Twain. Later he moved in high society and knew Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle.

The book’s production is excellent once again. The design follows the first edition from 1902, which likewise features a black cloth binding with the moon behind clouds. I loved that detail—it lends the book something of a facsimile feel, letting you experience it as the author intended. The slipcase, the thread sewing, the gray ribbon marker, the chosen typography, and not least the pleasantly soft, high-quality paper make this a bibliophile’s delight. Simply wonderful—I couldn’t ask for more. Mare classics may be pricey, but they’re worth every cent.

Conclusion: If you appreciate a varied and exciting adventure novel, you’ll love The Mystery of the Sea as much as I did. A gripping, simply wonderful story that reads smoothly, never grows dull, blends very different elements into a harmonious whole, and, not least, carries the sea breeze so typical of mare Verlag. The book design, closely modeled on the first edition, fulfills every bibliophile wish and is simply outstanding. If you enjoy authors like Alexandre Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, or Jules Verne, you’ll relish this book as well. The Mystery of the Sea is an unreserved recommendation.

Book information: The Mystery of the Sea • Bram Stoker • mare Verlag • 544 pages • ISBN 9783866487048