The Nightingale's Castle

'The 17th-century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory, allegedly responsible for the torture and murder of hundreds of young girls, is one of history's most notorious serial killers... an absorbing work of fiction' Sunday Times When trusted members of Countess Báthory's household are sent out to gather new serving girls, the kindly old man who has taken care of 15-year-old Boróka for almost all her life knows that he cannot turn them away. She must leave the remote Hungarian hamlet to begin again at Cachtice Castle, surrounded by strangers.Boróka 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? 'Gripping... a fascinating exploration of women's struggle to have their truth heard' Louise O'Neill 'Reads like the finest fairy tale' Joanne Burn