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My Sister, the Serial Killer: A Novel
By Oyinkan Braithwaite. 2018
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • BOOKER PRIZE NOMINEE • &“A taut and darkly funny…
contemporary noir that moves at lightning speed, it&’s the wittiest and most fun murder party you&’ve ever been invited to.&” —MARIE CLAIRE Korede&’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola&’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola&’s knife. Korede&’s practicality is the sisters&’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her &“missing&” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she&’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola&’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she&’s willing to go to protect her.Meet Me at the Lake
By Carley Fortune. 2023
INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*SHORTLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2024*In this breathtaking new novel from the…
#1 bestselling author of Every Summer After, a random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects.Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn&’t.At thirty-two, Fern&’s life doesn&’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern&’s back home, running her mother&’s Muskoka lakeside resort—something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend&’s the manager, and Fern doesn&’t know where to begin.She needs a plan—a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern&’s going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern&’s not sure she wants to know what it is. But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?You Are Here: A Novel
By Karin Lin-Greenberg. 2023
"Lin-Greenberg&’s web of characters illustrate the complex lives of ordinary people." —Time As a once-bustling mall prepares to shut its…
doors for the final time, the residents of an upstate New York town must reckon with a shocking act that forces them to reevaluate who they are in this "remarkable study of ordinary people's extraordinary inner lives" (Publishers Weekly, starred review)The inhabitants of a small town have long found that their lives intersect at one focal point: the local shopping mall. But business is down, stores are closing, and as the institution breathes its last gasp, the people inside it dream of something different, something more. In its pages, You Are Here brings this diverse group of characters vividly to life—flawed, real, lovable strangers who are wonderful company and prove unforgettable even after the last store has closed.The only hair stylist at Sunshine Clips secretly watches YouTube primers on how to draw and paint, just as her awkward young son covertly studies new illusions for his magic act. His friend and magician&’s assistant, a high school cashier in the food court, has attracted the unwanted attention of a strange boy at school. She tells no one except the mall&’s chain bookstore manager, a failed academic living in the tiny house he built in his mother-in-law's backyard. His family is watched over by the judgmental old woman next door, whose weekly trips to Sunshine Clips hide a complicated and emotional history and will spark the moment when everything changes for them all.Exploring how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are inextricably bound to the places we call home, You Are Here is a keenly perceptive and deeply humane portrait of a community in transition, ultimately illuminating the magical connections that can bloom from the ordinary wonder of our everyday lives.Hidden in Dreams: A Novel
By Davis Bunn. 2012
It’s not about understanding the prophecy. It’s about outliving it. Dr. Elena Burroughs’s life is spiraling out of control. Her…
controversial stance on dream interpretation has cost her a job, a romance, and all credibility in academic circles. Her literary agent tries to leverage the outcry into a publicity tour, which soon attracts a quirky following. Among the skeptics and mystics is a condescending scientist. But Elena finds his research holds ominous parallels with her own. A certain dream pattern has foretold every major catastrophe stretching back to the dawn of civilization. And now this dream is repeating itself in countless nightmares across the globe. Elena is confronted with a harrowing realization: the clock is ticking down to a cataclysmic financial collapse. Her desperation mounts as the prediction infiltrates her own dreams. Will this scientist become an unlikely ally—and maybe something more? Could an ancient biblical secret about the power of dreams and visions offer them an escape?Brendon (Alluring Indulgence #8)
By Nicole Edwards. 2014
From New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling indie author Nicole Edwards comes the final scorching installment in her Alluring…
Indulgence series, erotic romances featuring the Texan Walker brothers and their sizzling-hot love interests.Brendon Walker&’s life was altered drastically when his twin brother fell in love. The two had always done everything together, so now that his brother is moving on with his life, Brendon doesn't know what he should do. Coming to grips with his new reality hasn&’t been an easy road, and he fears he&’s all but given up. Cheyenne Montgomery is familiar with the spotlight, and she&’s familiar with fame. What she isn&’t familiar with is the incredible lure of the sexy Walker brother who makes her heart beat wildly. Seeing him spiral out of control has been tough on her. So what will it take for Cheyenne to convince him that change can be a good thing?Delphi: A Novel
By Clare Pollard. 2009
A Guardian Best Book of 2022 * &“Clever and surprising.&” —BuzzFeed * &“Brilliantly funny.&” —San Francisco Chronicle * &“Ingenious.&”—The Millions…
* &“Powerful.&” —Harper&’s Bazaar A captivating debut novel about a classics professor immersed in research for a new book on a prophecy in the ancient world who confronts chilling questions about her own life just as the pandemic descends—for readers of Jenny Offill, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Sally Rooney.Covid-19 has arrived in London, and the entire world quickly succumbs to the surreal, chaotic mundanity of screens, isolation, and the disasters big and small that have plagued recent history. As our unnamed narrator—a classics professor immersed in her studies of ancient prophecies—navigates the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes obsessed with predicting the future. Shifting her focus from chiromancy (prophecy by palm reading) to zoomancy (prophecy by animal behavior) to oenomancy (prophecy by wine), she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her very own home, and when she finally does, the threat has already breached the gates. Brainy and ominous, imaginative and funny, Delphi is a snapshot and a time capsule—it vividly captures our current moment and places our reality in the context of myth. Clare Pollard has delivered one of our first great pandemic novels, a mesmerizing and richly layered story about how we keep on living in a world that is ever-more uncertain and absurd.Holler, Child
By LaToya Watkins. 2023
Longlisted for the National Book AwardAn extraordinary and unforgettable short story collection about community, home, betrayal, and forgiveness—from a writer…
whose &“spellbinding, buoyant&”* storytelling will break your heart as it tends to the wounds. *Texas Monthly In Holler, Child&’s eleven brilliant stories, LaToya Watkins presses at the bruises of guilt, love, and circumstance. Each story introduces us to a character irrevocably shaped by place and reaching toward something—hope, reconciliation, freedom. In &“Cutting Horse,&” the appearance of a horse in a man&’s suburban backyard places a former horse breeder in trouble with the police. In &“Holler, Child,&” a mother is forced into an impossible position when her son gets in a kind of trouble she knows too well from the other side. And &“Time After&” shows us the unshakable bonds of family as a sister journeys to find her estranged brother—the one who saved her many times over. Throughout Holler, Child, we see love lost and gained, and grief turned to hope. Much like LaToya Watkins&’s acclaimed debut novel, Perish, this collection peers deeply into lives of women and men experiencing intimate and magnificent reckonings—exploring how race, power, and inequality map on the individual, and demonstrating the mythic proportions of everyday life.Strawberry Lane: A Touching Texas Love Story (Someday Valley #1)
By Jodi Thomas. 2023
Set in Someday Valley, surrounding the charming small town of Honey Creek, Texas, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas&’s…
latest novel tells the heartwarming, tenderly romantic tale of a man who drives his car off a cliff—straight into a life he never imagined . . . Starri Knight is a big believer in fate. How else to explain the compelling connection she feels to the stranger she pulls out of a wrecked car on the very same road where her parents died twenty years earlier? Alongside Auntie Ona-May, the only mother she&’s ever known, Starri saves Rusty O&’Sullivan&’s life—just as Ona-May once did when Starri was an orphaned babe. But convincing Rusty he has something to live for is going to take all of Starri&’s faith in miracles . . . Like a wish he hadn&’t even known to make, Starri landed in Rusty&’s life, filling him with a longing for a family. . . . Then Jackson Landry, a new lawyer, turns up to present a surprise that will change the direction of his life: An inheritance from the father Rusty never knew—and the promise of the family he&’d never had. It&’s a lot for the hard-bitten loner to accept as love from an unexpected direction rushes into his life . . . A sense of duty has Rusty heading to Honey Creek to deal with his father&’s estate—and find his lost siblings. But having family is one thing, learning to love them is another. Good thing new friends are by his side to help him along the way.The Idea of You: A Novel
By Robinne Lee. 2017
Now an original movie on Prime Video starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine! When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of…
a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.Tell-Tale Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery (A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery #26)
By Carolyn Haines. 2023
Carolyn Haines's Tell-Tale Bones marks the next novel in the series that Kirkus Reviews characterizes as “Stephanie Plum meets the…
Ya-Ya Sisterhood” featuring sassy Southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney.Private Investigator Sarah Booth Delaney and her partner Tinkie are in Sheriff Coleman Peters's office, consulting Coleman about cold cases, when Elisa Redd storms in with a case of her own. She wants Coleman to reopen the investigation of her missing daughter, Lydia Redd Maxell, the heiress to a large fortune who disappeared along with her friend Bethany nearly seven years ago. Lydia and Bethany were rumored to be working as human rights organizers abroad, but Elisa suspects Lydia’s problems might have stemmed closer to home. Now Lydia’s husband, Tope, is set to inherit the fortune, and Elisa believes he’s behind the disappearance.Sarah Booth and Tinkie soon connect the case to a series of mysterious disappearances over the years, as well as to a perplexing recurring dream. With another woman’s life at stake, the friends follow an increasingly twisty trail all over Sunflower County, leading them to a tree and an empty grave in the county cemetery. A grave that’s said to be haunted…Can't I Go Instead
By Lee Geum-Yi. 2017
Two women's lives and identities are intertwined—through World War II and the Korean War—revealing the harsh realities of class division…
in the early part of the 20th century.“Lee Geum-yi has a gift for taking little-known embers of history and transforming them into moving, compelling, and uplifting stories.” —Heather Morris, #1 New York Times bestselling authorCan't I Go Instead follows the lives of the daughter of a Korean nobleman and her maidservant in the early 20th century. When the daughter’s suitor is arrested as a Korean Independence activist, and she is implicated during the investigation, she is quickly forced into marriage to one of her father’s Japanese employees and shipped off to the United States. At the same time, her maidservant is sent in her mistress's place to be a comfort woman to the Japanese Imperial army.Years of hardship, survival, and even happiness follows. In the aftermath of WWII, the women make their way home, where they must reckon with the tangled lives they've led, in an attempt to reclaim their identities, and find their place in an independent Korea.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.Addie thinks she knows everything about her mother. But when a stranger appears claiming to be her sister, she realises…
that her life so far has been a lie. But why?'Intriguing, twisting... I loved it' Dinah Jefferies. 'A gripping family mystery told in lush, evocative prose' Erin Kelly. 'A well-written, intriguing read full of family secrets... Brilliant' FabulousA NO. 1 BESTSELLER IN NORWAYA BESTSELLER IN ISRAELPerfect for fans of BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate. Hartland House has always been a faithful keeper of secrets...1958. Sent to beautiful Hartland to be sheltered from her mother's illness, Liz spends the summer with the wealthy Shaw family. They treat Liz as one of their own, but their influence could be dangerous...Now. Addie believes she knows everything about her mother Elizabeth and their difficult relationship until her recent death. When a stranger appears claiming to be Addie's sister, she is stunned. Is everything she's been told about her early life a lie?How can you find the truth about the past if the one person who could tell you is gone? Addie must go back to that golden summer her mother never spoke of...and the one night that changed a young girl's life for ever.'A compelling family story... Beautifully written and evokes vivid pictures of an English summer in the 1950s' Sheila O'Flanagan.'Trembles with family secrets' Victoria FoxWhat readers are saying about My Mother's Shadow: 'One of the most enthralling, heartbreaking books that I have read in quite some time' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'The poignant storyline is deeply affecting. Definitely a book that is going to stay with me for a long time' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'So beautifully written. In places it made me laugh out loud and in other places it made me cry. Poignant' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars'I was hooked from beginning to end! Vivid characters and evocative scenes make this an enchanting read' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars'Stunning and emotional' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars'This novel absolutely blew me away! I was left emotional and teary. It had me gripped from the startand is loaded with scenes that pull at the heartstrings! I cannot recommend this novel enough' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'A stunning read and I can't wait to read more from this author' Goodreads reviewer, 5 starsBirding
By Rose Ruane. 2024
In a small seaside town, autumn is edging into winter, gulls ride winds over the waves, and two women pass…
each other on the promenade, as yet unaware of each other's existence.In the nineties Lydia was a teen pop star, posed half naked on billboards everywhere with a lollipop between her lips and no idea how to live, letting the world happen to her. Now, three decades later, Lydia is less and less sure that what happened to her was in the least bit okay. The news cycle runs hot with #MeToo stories, and a famous former lover has emerged with a self-serving apology, asking her to forgive him. Suddenly, the past is full of trapdoors she is desperately trying not to fall through.Joyce, in middle age, has never left home. She still lives with her mother Betty. With their matching dresses, identical hairdos and makeup, they are the local oddballs. Theirs is a life of unerring routine: the shops, biscuits served on bone china plates, dressing up for a gin and tonic on Saturday. Nice things. One misstep from Joyce can ruin Betty's day; so Joyce treads carefully. She has never let herself think about a different kind of life. But recently, along with the hot flushes, something like anger is asserting itself, like a caged thing realising it should probably try and escape.Amid the grey skies, amusement parks and beauty parlours of a gentrifying run-down seaside resort, these two women might never meet. But as they both try to untangle the damaging details of their past in the hope of a better future, their lives are set on an unlikely collision course.With mordant wit and lyrical prose, Birding asks if we can ever see ourselves clearly or if we are always the unreliable narrators of our own experiences. It is a story about the difference between responsibility and obligation, unhealthy relationships and abusive ones, third acts and last chances, and two women trying to take flight on clipped wings.'I was blown away by this dark, enchanting story of witchcraft, power and injustice. ..nothing short of brilliant' Mary ChamberlainErzsébet…
Báthory, whose infamous place in history characterises her as the 'Blood Countess', was accused of the murder of over 600 peasant girls in Hungary, 1610. The Nightingale's Castle tells the story of a woman fighting for her survival and the complicated, often cruel, household over which she presides.Praise for The Nightingale's Castle'Moving, fascinating and haunting.. A mesmerising combination of gothic horror and elegant restraint' Francesca De Tores, author of Saltblood'Gripping... a fascinating exploration of women's struggle to have their truth heard' Louise O'NeillIn 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 Italian Garden: The perfect historical fiction to fall in love with this spring!
By Charlotte Betts. 2024
Lake Como, 1919.The garden of Villa Marchese was once a sight to behold. Now, overgrown and unloved, the flowers that…
once bloomed are nothing but a reminder of the tragic events of Flora Marchese's death.When horticulturist Violet Honeywell is commissioned to restore the once exquisite garden, she immediately accepts and sets off on a life-changing adventure.Violet instantly becomes enchanted by the Italian way of life, and under the beguiling warmth of the Bellagio sun, she falls in love with a man who can never truly be hers - Flora's grandson.But when a discovery at the Lake uncovers buried truths that have haunted the family for decades, Violet starts to delve deeper into the dark secrets of their past, and she quickly begins to realise that not everything in the Marchese family is what it seems . . .----Why readers love Charlotte Betts:'Lush, romantic and full of intrigue' Tracy Rees, Richard & Judy bestselling author'A deeply romantic novel whose vivid characters will linger in your mind' Margaret Kaine'Romantic, poignant and gripping . . . a fabulous holiday read' Deborah Swift'A stunning and captivating read . . . full of drama, love, loss and life' Book Literati'Lingers in the heart long after the final page is turned . . . a must read for anyone who wants to be absorbed as well as utterly enchanted' Carol McGrath'A compelling story, beautifully written and brought alive with rich historical detail' Liz HarrisThe Book of Words
By Jenny Erpenbeck. 2007
A searing novella about coming of age in a land of tyranny, by one of Germany's most brilliant young authors.…
In The Book of Words, Jenny Erpenbeck captures with amazing virtuosity the inner life of a young girl who survives the totalitarian regime of a curiously unnamed South American country (most likely Argentina during its "dirty war"). Raised by parents whose real identity ends up shocking her, the girl comes of age in a country where gunshots are mistaken for blown tires, innocent citizens are dragged off buses, and tortured and disappeared friends and family return to visit her from the dead.The Italian Garden: The perfect historical fiction to fall in love with this spring!
By Charlotte Betts. 2024
Lake Como, 1919.The garden of Villa Marchese was once a sight to behold. Now, overgrown and unloved, the flowers that…
once bloomed are nothing but a reminder of the tragic events of Flora Marchese's death.When horticulturist Violet Honeywell is commissioned to restore the once exquisite garden, she immediately accepts and sets off on a life-changing adventure.Violet instantly becomes enchanted by the Italian way of life, and under the beguiling warmth of the Bellagio sun, she falls in love with a man who can never truly be hers - Flora's grandson.But when a discovery at the Lake uncovers buried truths that have haunted the family for decades, Violet starts to delve deeper into the dark secrets of their past, and she quickly begins to realise that not everything in the Marchese family is what it seems . . .----Why readers love Charlotte Betts:'Lush, romantic and full of intrigue' Tracy Rees, Richard & Judy bestselling author'A deeply romantic novel whose vivid characters will linger in your mind' Margaret Kaine'Romantic, poignant and gripping . . . a fabulous holiday read' Deborah Swift'A stunning and captivating read . . . full of drama, love, loss and life' Book Literati'Lingers in the heart long after the final page is turned . . . a must read for anyone who wants to be absorbed as well as utterly enchanted' Carol McGrath'A compelling story, beautifully written and brought alive with rich historical detail' Liz HarrisHow to Leave the House
By Nathan Newman. 2024
The funniest, wildest and most original debut novel of 2024 'Gobby, barbed and garrulous' Eley Williams'Truly original' Nicola Dinan, author…
of Bellies'Genuinely hilarious' Keiran Goddard, author of HourglassIt's Natwest's last day before he leaves for university, and there's only one thing on his mind: the deeply embarrassing package he ordered to his house - which still hasn't arrived. He won't leave town without it. Any alternative is too distressing to consider ... This is the story of twenty-four hours in the life of NATWEST, and his small-town odyssey in pursuit of the missing package. And yet it's also the story of a MIDDLE-AGED DENTIST who dreams of being a respected artist - but the only thing he can seem to paint is the human mouth. And it's the story of a TORTURED IMAM involved in a quasi-romantic entanglement with the local vicar; and an OCTOGENARIAN mourning the death of her secretive husband; and a TROUBLED TEENAGER whose nudes have leaked on the internet. It's the story of Natwest's obnoxious EX-BOYFRIEND, and his CLASS-TRAITOR MOTHER and her CHILDHOOD BOYFRIEND, and the life-changing secrets he knows about Natwest's past. Alternating between Natwest's idiosyncratic inner world and the perspectives of the other characters - and dazzling in its energy, imagination and originality - this is an outrageously funny and tenderly moving story about being connected to everyone and everything at all times; about love, friendship, and the lies we tell ourselves; about unhappy endings, happy endings - and whether anything really is as simple as one or the other.The Italian Garden: The perfect historical fiction to fall in love with this spring!
By Charlotte Betts. 2024
Lake Como, 1919.The garden of Villa Marchese was once a sight to behold. Now, overgrown and unloved, the flowers that…
once bloomed are nothing but a reminder of the tragic events of Flora Marchese's death.When horticulturist Violet Honeywell is commissioned to restore the once exquisite garden, she immediately accepts and sets off on a life-changing adventure.Violet instantly becomes enchanted by the Italian way of life, and under the beguiling warmth of the Bellagio sun, she falls in love with a man who can never truly be hers - Flora's grandson.But when a discovery at the Lake uncovers buried truths that have haunted the family for decades, Violet starts to delve deeper into the dark secrets of their past, and she quickly begins to realise that not everything in the Marchese family is what it seems . . .----Why readers love Charlotte Betts:'Lush, romantic and full of intrigue' Tracy Rees, Richard & Judy bestselling author'A deeply romantic novel whose vivid characters will linger in your mind' Margaret Kaine'Romantic, poignant and gripping . . . a fabulous holiday read' Deborah Swift'A stunning and captivating read . . . full of drama, love, loss and life' Book Literati'Lingers in the heart long after the final page is turned . . . a must read for anyone who wants to be absorbed as well as utterly enchanted' Carol McGrath'A compelling story, beautifully written and brought alive with rich historical detail' Liz Harris'I was blown away by this dark, enchanting story of witchcraft, power and injustice. ..nothing short of brilliant' Mary ChamberlainErzsébet…
Báthory, whose infamous place in history characterises her as the 'Blood Countess', was accused of the murder of over 600 peasant girls in Hungary, 1610. The Nightingale's Castle tells the story of a woman fighting for her survival and the complicated, often cruel, household over which she presides.Praise for The Nightingale's Castle'Moving, fascinating and haunting.. A mesmerising combination of gothic horror and elegant restraint' Francesca De Tores, author of Saltblood'Gripping... a fascinating exploration of women's struggle to have their truth heard' Louise O'NeillIn 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?