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The years have flown by as quickly as a half-vampire baby grows. Monday marks a full decade since Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight was first published on Oct. 5, 2005.

Back then, there was little clue that a young-adult vampire love story written by an observant Mormon mom who had never seen an R-rated movie would launch an entertainment juggernaut. A few years later, shortly after another one of its sequels rocketed to the top of the best-seller list—knocking a Harry Potter installment from the top spot—TIME’s Lev Grossman explained the craze to readers. He posited that readers loved Twilight, it turned out, for the same reason most vampire stories succeed:

Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault: The Next J.K. Rowling?

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com.

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