In the early 1600s, Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess, ruled Čachtice Castle in the hinterlands of Slovakia. During bizarre nightly rites, she tortured and killed the young women she had taken on as servants. A devil, a demon, the terror of Royal Hungary—she bathed in their blood to preserve her own youth.
400 years later, echoes of the Countess’s legendary brutality reach Aspen, Colorado. Betsy Path, a psychoanalyst of uncommon intuition, has a breakthrough with sullen teenager Daisy Hart. Together, they are haunted by the past, as they struggle to understand its imprint upon the present. Betsy and her troubled but perceptive patient learn the truth: the curse of the House of Bathory lives still and has the power to do evil even now.
The story, brimming with palace intrigue, memorable characters intimately realized, and a wealth of evocative detail, travels back and forth between the familiar, modern world and a seventeenth-century Eastern Europe brought startlingly to life.
Inspired by the actual crimes of Elizabeth Báthory, The House of Bathory is another thrilling historical fiction from Linda Lafferty (The Bloodletter’s Daughter and The Drowning Guard). The novel carries readers along with suspense and the sweep of historical events both repellent and fascinating
my thoughts
Horrifying and fascinating at the same time. It's like passing an accident and staring. You can't help yourself. This book is very similar. It jumps between the past and the present.
Countess Bathory, 17th century, villain. I felt nothing except disgust for this woman. She is mean, hateful and cruel. She bathes in the blood of young girls to keep her youth. The people who surround her are loyal out of fear and need. They need the few pennies she pays for their families. They fear her reaction and response if they betray her in any way.
Modern day, we have a psychologist named Betsy, treating a trauma plagued 'goth girl'.
Modern day Count Bathory, as crazy as his ancestor and several other players.
The story goes back and forth between past and present. We follow the story and eventually it does merge. Remember, truth is stranger than fiction. Countess Bathory was a real person, her crimes of cruelty and murder were real.
Very well written story. I was never bored or distracted while reading.