Warning
Contains spoilers for Sepia and Silver, The Libelle Papers, Tragic Silence & Darkest Dreams
The links between the Kálvin, Farkas and Jones families mean that as well as being Michael's great-great grandmother, Éva is Bianka's second cousin three times removed. Sepia and Silver echoes similar themes to those explored in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, such as surface appearance hiding darkness, and the cost to one's sense of self and how it is perceived by the world.
Hattyúpatak in English means "swan brook." This is derived from a lyric in the song Eva by Nightwish, after which Éva herself is named. During the later half of the 19th century, Hungary was part of Austria-Hungary under a dual monarchy between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. Though Hungary today is landlocked, the layout of the shared borders in the 1800s allowed the country a section of coastline, where the Navy was established in Fiume (now Rijeka in modern-day Croatia). Éva sails out of this port on her crossing to England. Budapest is also spelled Buda-Pesth in the novel, as this was what the city was referred to during the Victorian Era.
Éva calling her rescuer "Angel" throughout the book is a reference to the Angel of Music from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The ship that brings Éva to England is the SS Persephone, named after a figure in Greek mythology. Persephone was the daughter of the goddess Demeter, who was the namesake for the ship that brought Dracula to England in Bram Stoker’s novel. After being kidnapped and fed the food of the Underworld by Hades, Persephone was also both a maiden of flowers and queen of the dead: two contrasts which also define Éva's struggle to maintain her humanity in the face of vampirism and James's influence.
Captain Hallward is named after Basil Hallward: the artist who created the titular portrait of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Éva's white lawn dress is a reference to Lucy Westenra from Dracula, who is often associated with the material as a symbol of virginal innocence tainted by vampirism.
Éva has a mole on the side of her neck. This is a physical trait shared with the vampire Carmilla from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's novel of the same name, and is also what leads to Carmilla's identification as a vampire. Christine Rose and Erik Farkas are named after the two main characters from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.
The Calvin family cook, Mrs Dean, is named after Nellie Dean, the servant and primary narrator of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Likewise, Éva's chaperone Miss Lockwood is named after Lockwood from the same book; and Benjamin’s mother after Cathy Earnshaw. Mrs Reed, the cook of Weaver House, is named after the Reed family from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Although not a mansion, and located in Nantwich rather than Liverpool, Weaver House is a real place. It was named after one of my ancestors, who was Lord Mayor of Crewe during the late 19th century.
Henry Jones is named after Lord Henry Wotton, a major character from The Picture of Dorian Gray, and is similarly known as Harry to his closest associates. However, he acts as an inversion of his classic counterpart, encouraging redemption rather than perversion. Upon first meeting Éva, Benjamin recites the William Blake poem The Tyger. The poem ponders a tiger’s danger, what kind of being could have created such a creature, and how one should not get too close. It serves as foreshadowing of Éva's coming encounters with James and her moral battle over the nature of vampirism. Benjamin later recites another Blake poem for Éva, The Lamb, which is seen as complimentary to The Tyger and embodies innocence.
Other poetry recited by Benjamin includes I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (Chapter 11), La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats (Chapter 23), The Flower That Smiles To-Day by Percy Shelley (Chapter 32), The Giaour by Lord Byron (Chapter 33) and I Am by John Clare (Chapter 38). The Shelley and Byron poems hold special significance in contrasting Benjamin with James. Percy Shelley was the husband of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, the themes of which influenced James’s backstory. The lines Benjamin speaks from The Giaour concern withering flowers; a similar line is found in the much older Child Ballad The Unquiet Grave, which James sings to Éva. Norman Calvin’s past is based on one of my own ancestors who fought in the Crimean War. Following the conflict, he returned to Liverpool penniless and was forced to enter the workhouse, but within ten years he had built up a successful business, owned a house with servants, and started a family.
Norman's revolver is a Deane and Adams. This is a historically-accurate weapon which would have been used by British officers during the Crimean War. The tunnel where James takes Éva after Norman’s death is the entrance to Dingle Station on the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Accurate to history, it would have been under construction in 1895. It is also one of the few surviving remnants of the Overhead Railway to still exist in the city.
Zíta sending Hungarian soil in an attempt to protect Éva, since demonic vampires will die outside their own countries, is lifted from a similar motif in Dracula. Dracula can only rest and rejuvenate in earth from his homeland, so he sends boxes of it to England in order to survive in a foreign land. Éva's inheritance is £20,000: the same received by Jane in Jane Eyre. In today’s money, this is approximately equal to £2,700,000. The £1000 she leaves for George and Christine is equal to £134,000. The £35 she offers Margaret equals £4,700.
The book which Éva reads after Norman's death is Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Éva and James are loosely inspired by Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, and Jane and Rochester from Jane Eyre. Together with Benjamin, the three are also homages to the relationships between Christine, Raoul and Erik from The Phantom of the Opera: a story also referenced in Tragic Silence.
János/Jonathan's story of finding refuge with a sisterhood of nuns after his turning is a homage to his namesake: Jonathan Harker from Dracula. Harker is nursed back to heath in a convent after escaping Dracula’s castle. Shortly before her wedding, Éva compares James’s prolific killings to those of Erzsébet Báthory, more commonly known in English as Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Erzsébet Báthory was a member of the 16th century Hungarian nobility, accused of murdering hundreds of young girls. A common motif that persisted in the following centuries says that she bathed in blood to retain her youth, and this subsequently led to her being included in select modern vampire folklore.
Whitby, where Benjamin and Éva spend their honeymoon, is the town where Count Dracula landed in England. The ruined Abbey where the newlyweds stroll is where Dracula first fed from Lucy Westenra. James reveals that he was turned into a vampire by David Bernstein, Hanna's ancestor in The Libelle Papers. In retaliation, James would turn the Doktor himself ten years later: the only in-universe instance of a shared turner and victim. His story of abuse, rejection and coldness is heavily inspired by themes from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Margaret’s family in Manchester, the Sewards, are named after Dr John Seward, who treated Lucy Westenra's vampirism alongside Professor Van Helsing in Dracula. Éva's nightmare, in which she is pursued through the Hattyúpatak forest, mirrors the experience of her father János Kálvin, moments before he was captured during the Final Purge. The almost-identical scene is shown from János's perspective in Where Night is Blind.
James's murder of Henry by telekinetically stopping his heart is a reference to Carrie by Stephen King; Carrie kills her mother the same way. The date which Benjamin and Éva intended to sail out of Liverpool is September 20th, 1896. Exactly 42 years prior, the Battle of the Alma was fought in the Crimean War: the event which led to Henry becoming a vampire.
Similar to Henry, James's true name, Jack Wotton, is also taken from Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray. However, in contrast with Henry, James embodies the original traits of the character: a hedonistic aristocrat who entices the naïve young Dorian into a life of sin. James’s desperate plea to Éva aboard the Penmaenmawr train is loosely lifted from Rochester begging Jane to stay with him in Jane Eyre. Similarly, Éva's dialogue in acceptance of Benjamin’s proposal is also loosely lifted from Jane Eyre.
The location where James derails the Penmaenmawr train is in the Mersey Railway Tunnel between Liverpool Lime Street Station and Birkenhead Hamilton Square Station, approximately 40 feet below the bed of the River Mersey. This tunnel is still used by trains today. On the evening Éva flees England, Benjamin states that her departure is 25 days before their intended date. This reveals that the date Éva leaves is 26th August: my birthday.
Captain Hallward’s second ship, RMS Hesselius, is named after Dr Hesselius from Carmilla: the first occult doctor in literature. The location of the cemetery containing the Takács mausoleum is given as being in the Józsefváros District. Though not explicitly named in Sepia and Silver, this indicates that it is Kerepesi Cemetery: one of the oldest resting places in Hungary and the most famous in Budapest.
The location of the cemetery containing the Takács mausoleum is given as being in the Józsefváros District. Though not explicitly named in Sepia and Silver, this indicates that it is Kerepesi Cemetery: one of the oldest resting places in Hungary and the most famous in Budapest. The novel ends in 1896: the presumed 1,000th anniversary year of the country of Hungary.
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