Imagine you find yourself in the private library of William Ewert Gladstone, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and you go leafing through his shelves and find a signed copy of a literary masterpiece by an Irishman.

You might think James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde but you'd be wrong on all counts.

It’s Bram Stoker, who signed a copy of Dracula for the Prime Minister at a time he was hoping Ireland could finally be allowed to determine its own affairs.

At this time of year, there is an awful lot of focus on Stoker’s work - a book which we all know a bit about, but which might actually draw heavily on Stoker's own mother’s tales of a nineteenth century pandemic in the West of Ireland.

Gavan Reilly is joined by Donal Fallon for another episode of Hidden Histories to discuss.

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