Members of Countess Báthory’s household have been sent out to gather new serving girls and the kindly old man who gave Boróka a home as a baby knows that it is dangerous to turn them away. As the 15-year-old girl reluctantly leaves the safety of the only home she has ever known in the foothills […]
The Nightingale’s Castle by Sonia Velton
In 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gave birth to an illegitimate child. The infant, a girl, was swiftly bundled up and handed to a local peasant family to be brought up in one of the hamlets surrounding the Castle. Many years later, 15-year-old Boróka reluctantly leaves the safety of the only home she has ever known […]
Vampire or victim? The real Countess Báthory
Who was Countess Erzsébet Báthory? A prototype vampire? A religious – or political – victim? Sonia Velton, author of The Nightingale’s Castle, investigates the real woman behind the myth. Even if you don’t know Erzsébet Báthory by name, you may well have heard of the Blood Countess who murdered numerous young virgins and bathed in […]