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 in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.
Trusted members of the countess’s household have been sent out to gather new serving girls, and the kindly old man who has taken care of Boróka for almost all her life knows that it is dangerous to turn them away.
Boróka struggles to find her place at Cachtice Castle: she is frightened of the countess’s reputation as an alleged murderer of young girls, and the women who run the castle are terrifyingly cruel.
When plague comes into the heart of the castle, a tentative bond begins to form between Boróka and the Countess Báthory.
But powerful forces are moving against a woman whose wealth poses such a threat to the king: can the countess really trust the women who are so close to her? And when the show trial begins against the infamous ‘Blood Countess’ where will Boróka’s loyalties lie?
The Nightingale’s Castle by Sonia Velton is published on 2 May, 2024.
Sonia writes about the historical background to her novel in Vampire or victim? The real Countess Báthory.
Our list of over 160 historical fiction books coming out this year may give you some more reading inspiration.
