The story/plot is to me, very secondary to the pictures - though I do like that there is a story behind them (and therefore not just a picture of a vampire, or a ghost etc). Marquise's tale is, to me, the strangest of the three in this volume, and Favoles the saddest. Some of the pictures by Frances invoke memories of The Lady of Shallott, and more so than with the vampiric pictures, the tale of Lavernne is truly spectral. vignettes.Īlthough I like the story of Favole (more so in book 2) my preferred one in this book is the first, the Virgins of the Lake, the tale of Lavernne. This book always strikes me as very introductory, I read the second book first and it does seem to have more of a story bases whilst this one is more. I can never decide with these books by Victoria Frances if the stories came to her first and her pictures merely matched, or whether she painted the pictures came first and formed the story. It´s still as beautiful as we were and is there to show, we STILL ARE. The dark, sad and romantic tension is still as vivid as I remember it. Now Favole is like a proof that it all happened. I miss those days when we walked the streets by daylight and were not frowned upon. We only swarm the night and disappear by daylight. There is still a big gothic community in my country, but I feel like we are back in the shadow. Sadly, times changed and it became harder and harder to find your like-minded. As a result I was oversaturated with melodramatic / sad / romantic gothic stories about lonely souls and beautiful vampires (why is it always beautiful vampires? can ugly ppl also be turned into vampires? I believe so, then why r there no stories about them?). I remember 100 of ppl reading an writing prosa such as Favole. Gothic is still my way of live, only I get very little chances to express it (it only sounds cool, but no one wants a teacher in gothic make-up, new rock boots and don´t get me started on my beloved quilling - shirts). I never felt the urge to read Favole, cause it reminded me too much of the hyper - poetical short stories I wrote when I was 17 and had just discovered gothic literature.

I have been collecting Victoria Francés´ art fo years now. I don´t know how to phrase this without making it sound like a critique.

Victoria francés stone tears