Author: Andrei Codrescu Publisher: Open Road Media ISBN: 1504015266 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 342
Book Description
A “brilliant” novel of Elizabeth Bathory, the notorious sixteenth-century Hungarian aristocrat who bathed in the blood of virgins (St. Petersburg Times). Turmoil reigns in post-Soviet Hungary when journalist Drake Bathory-Kereshtur returns from America to grapple with his family history. He’s haunted by the legacy of his ancestor, the notorious sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have murdered more than 650 young virgins and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth. Interweaving past and present, The Blood Countess tells the stories of Elizabeth’s debauched and murderous reign and Drake’s fascination with the eternal clashes of faith and power, violence and beauty. Codrescu traces the captivating origins of the countess’s obsessions in tandem with the emerging political fervor of the reporter, building the narratives into an unforgettable, bloody crescendo. Taut and intense, The Blood Countess is a riveting novel that deftly straddles the genres of historical fiction, thriller, horror, and family drama.
Author: Barbara Dawson Smith Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 9780312932398 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 374
Book Description
In this second novel of her new page-turning trilogy, "New York Times" bestselling author Smith delivers the story of a woman forced to enter the aristocratic world she despises, only to find a man she cannot live without. Original.
Author: Lynsay Sands Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062041665 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 198
Book Description
“You can’t help but fall in love with Lynsay Sands!” —Christina Dodd New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynsay Sands trades in highland kilts for lush ballrooms and high-waisted gowns in The Countess, the first in a brand new, sexy, laugh-out-loud funny Regency romance series. Fans of Julie Garwood, Jill Barnett, and Teresa Medeiros will adore The Countess, and sympathize with her hilarious attempts to cover up the untimely demise of her despicable husband, even as the late earl’s twin brother sets her heart aflutter. The much adored creator of the popular Argeneau vampire family paranormal romance novels, the incomparable Lynsay is equally adept at historical romance—as this wonderful Regency romp so emphatically demonstrates!
Author: Andrea Cefalo Publisher: ISBN: 9780985167851 Category : Languages : en Pages : 234
Book Description
During March of 1248, Adelaide Schumacher-affectionately called Snow White-has lost so much: her mother, her possessions, and now her home.Adelaide hates abandoning her home city, her family's legacy, and her first love-Ivo. More than anything, she hates her father growing closer to her mother's cousin-Galadriel. Adelaide plots to end their tryst before her fate is sealed, and she never sets foot in Cologne again.But good and pious can only get Galadriel so far. Never again will she be destitute. Never again will she be known by the cruel moniker-Cinderella. Never again will someone take what is rightfully hers. No matter what it takes.The Countess' Captive is the much anticipated follow-up to The Fairytale Keeper and is book two in The Fairytale Keeper series. The novel combines Grimm's fairytale characters, key players from the time period, and dynamic characters with real historical settings and events to create a tale that leaves the reader wondering where fact ends and fiction begins.
Author: Jenny Frame Publisher: Bold Strokes Books Inc ISBN: 1626397864 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 284
Book Description
Professor of Archeology Henrietta “Harry” Knight becomes Countess of Axedale upon her father’s death and takes a sabbatical from Cambridge University to begin refurbishing the long-neglected and run-down Axedale Hall. The child of a loveless marriage, witness to her father’s infidelities and her mother’s pain, Harry has no intention of ever falling in love. Annie Brannigan is a survivor, remaining positive through hardships. As an agency housekeeper, she moves from post to post with her daughter Riley, taking care of people who have everything she will never have. Annie’s greatest wish is to find her happy ever after. Can love restore the countess’s heart and the crumbling Axedale Hall, or will the first foundations of love turn to dust?
Author: Catherine Ostler Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1471172570 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 376
Book Description
'A scintillating story superbly told... [Ostler] packs every paragraph with eye-opening detail' The Times 'A rollicking read... [Ostler] tells Elizabeth's story with admirable style and gusto' Sunday Times 'Terrifically entertaining: if you liked Bridgerton, you’ll love this...and her research is impeccable' Evening Standard 'Fascinating. Magnificent. Sensitively told' Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five 'Catherine Ostler’s superb, gripping, decadent biography brings an extraordinary woman and a whole world blazingly to life' Simon Sebag Montefiore When the glamorous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, Countess of Bristol, went on trial at Westminster Hall for bigamy in April 1776, the story drew more attention in society than the American War of Independence. A clandestine, candlelit wedding to the young heir to an earldom, a second marriage to a Duke, a lust for diamonds and an electrifying appearance at a masquerade ball in a diaphanous dress: no wonder the trial was a sensation. However, Elizabeth refused to submit to public humiliation and retire quietly. Rather than backing gracefully out of the limelight, she embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, being welcomed by the Pope and Catherine the Great among others. As maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth led her life in the inner circle of the Hanoverian court and her exploits delighted and scandalised the press and the people. She made headlines, and was a constant feature in penny prints and gossip columns. Writers were intrigued by her. Thackeray drew on Elizabeth as inspiration for his calculating, alluring Becky Sharp. But her behaviour, often depicted as attention-seeking and manipulative, hid a more complex tale – that of Elizabeth’s fight to overcome personal tragedy and loss. Now, in this brilliantly told and evocative biography, Catherine Ostler takes a fresh look at Elizabeth’s story and seeks to understand and reappraise a woman who refused to be defined by society’s expectations of her. A woman who was by turns, brave, loving and generous but also reckless, greedy and insecure; a woman totally unwilling to accept the female status of underdog or to hand over all the power, the glory and the adventures of life to men.
Author: Rebecca Johns Publisher: Crown ISBN: 0307588467 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
Was the “Blood Countess” history’s first and perhaps worst female serial killer? Or did her accusers create a violent fiction in order to remove this beautiful, intelligent, ambitious foe from the male-dominated world of Hungarian politics? In 1611, Countess Erzsébet Báthory, a powerful Hungarian noblewoman, stood helpless as masons walled her inside her castle tower, dooming her to spend her final years in solitary confinement. Her crime: the gruesome murders of dozens of female servants, mostly young girls tortured to death for displeasing their ruthless mistress. Her opponents painted her as a bloodthirsty škrata—a witch—a portrayal that would expand to grotesque proportions through the centuries. In this riveting dramatization of Erzsébet Báthory’s life, the countess tells her story in her own words, writing to her only son—a final reckoning from his mother in an attempt to reveal the truth behind her downfall. Countess Báthory describes her upbringing in one of the most powerful noble houses in Hungary, recounting in loving detail her devotion to her parents and siblings as well as the heartbreak of losing her father at a young age. She soon discovers the price of being a woman in sixteenth-century Hungary as her mother arranges her marriage to Ferenc Nádasdy, a union made with the cold calculation of a financial transaction. Young Erzsébet knows she has no choice but to accept this marriage even as she laments its loveless nature and ultimately turns to the illicit affections of another man. Seemingly resigned to a marriage of convenience and a life of surreptitious pleasure, the countess surprises even herself as she ignites a marital spark with Ferenc through the most unromantic of acts: the violent punishment of an insolent female servant. The event shows Ferenc that his wife is no trophy but a strong, determined woman more than capable of managing their vast estates during Ferenc’s extensive military campaigns against the Turks. Her naked assertion of power accomplishes what her famed beauty could not: capturing the love of her husband. The countess embraces this new role of loving wife and mother, doing everything she can to expand her husband’s power and secure her family’s future. But a darker side surfaces as Countess Báthory’s demand for virtue, obedience, and, above all, respect from her servants takes a sinister turn. What emerges is not only a disturbing, unflinching portrait of the deeds that gave Báthory the moniker “Blood Countess,” but an intimate look at the woman who became a monster.
Author: Lotte Hammer Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 140887069X Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 385
Book Description
Everything comes with a price The chilling next instalment in the Konrad Simonsen series, perfect for fans of Johan Theorin and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir The skeleton of a young woman is discovered, tied to a stone, in a lake deep in the Danish countryside. The woman's identity is a mystery; no one matching her description has been reported missing... After months of fruitless investigation by the local police force, a media scandal brings the case to nationwide attention and is quickly handed over to Konrad Simonsen and his team from the Copenhagen Police force. It soon becomes clear that this unknown woman is the key to a sinister world of human trafficking, prostitution and violence. A world where everything comes with a price and no mistake goes unpunished.
Author: Dmitrey Merezhkovsky Publisher: TSK Group LLC ISBN: Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
Dmitrey Merezhkovsky, a formidable historian and philosopher, known best for his epic narratives from Russian history, takes a romantic foray into the realm of life, death, love, and all things in between.
Author: Rosie efenberg Publisher: Histria Books ISBN: 159211122X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 356
Book Description
Prelude to the Past is the remarkable story of a young Jewish girl growing up in Germany during the years leading up to the First World War. She experienced adulthood during the tumultuous years between the two World Wars, becoming one of the most important journalistic figures of the period. This tumultuous era comes to life through the eyes of a powerful, passionate, strong, yet vulnerable Jewish woman who not only recorded the events of the era but also helped to shape them.With an introduction by Dr. Ernest H. Latham, Jr., the foremost scholar on the life and work of Rosie Gr&äefenberg, aka R.G. Waldeck, Prelude to the Past is a must-read for anyone interested in European society in the years preceding Hitler's domination of Europe.
Author: Andrei Codrescu
Author: Barbara Dawson Smith
Author: Lynsay Sands
Author: Andrea Cefalo
Author: Jenny Frame
Author: Catherine Ostler
Author: Rebecca Johns
Author: Lotte Hammer
Author: Dmitrey Merezhkovsky
Author: Rosie efenberg