Natalie Bakopoulos has that rare gift, the ability to imagine a traumatic historical event in the form of individual lives and ordinary details. The Green Shore is compelling, personal, and full of quietly real moments.

My guess is that he remembers some of me, some of us together, and the rest rolled off him like topsoil in a flash flood.

I've noticed Dracula was often as practical a fellow as he was a nasty one.

He brought his great hand to rest on an early edition of Bram Stoker's novel and smiled, but said nothing. Then he moved quietly away into another section.

I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered rich girl collides with great books and is devastated by her own banality.

I keep telling myself I should try very hard to write a novel of about 210 pages... I don't seem to be capable of it, but I keep hoping it will happen.

In the end, I always act from the heart, even if I also value reason and tradition. I wish I could explain why, but I don't know.