The Nightingale’s Castle by Sonia Velton
The Nightingale’s Castle
Sonia Velton
In 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gives birth to an illegitimate child. Secretly taken to a peasant family living in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, the infant girl is raised as their own. Years later, a young woman called Boróka—ignorant of her true history—is sent to join the Countess’s household.
Terrified of the Countess’s murderous reputation and the brutally cruel women who run the castle, Boróka struggles to find her place. Then plague breaches the castle’s walls, and a tentative bond unexpectedly forms between the girl and the Countess. But powerful forces are moving against the great lady whose wealth and independence threatens the king.
Can the Countess trust the women seemingly so close to her? And when the show trial begins against the infamous “Blood Countess” where will Boróka’s loyalties lie?
review
Erzsébet Báthory, known as the Blood Countess, was born in Hungary on 7 August 1560 and has a reputation for being one of the most prolific serial killers in history. Báthory and four of her servant women were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women over a twenty year period which resulted in the servants being executed and the Countess being imprisoned in Cachtice Castle where she died mysteriously a few years later. Over the years the Countess’ story has taken on fantastical elements such as her being a vampire or bathing in her virgin victims’ blood to retain beauty, however a number of historians now believe the Countess’ crimes were fabricated so her wealth and lands could be seized.
The Nightingale’s Castle follows the premise the Countess was framed as part of a political conspiracy by a group of men who were threatened by her power and wanted her vast wealth for themselves. Velton also plays with the rumour that Báthory gave birth to an illegitimate daughter when she was thirteen and the child was given to a peasant family to raise. Boróka, our main character, arrives at the castle as a servant girl but she soon catches the eye of the countess as Boróka not only looks like she did in her youth but is obviously more educated than an average servant girl. The countess invites Boróka to join the young noble women who have been sent to her for lessons in etiquette.
When a young artist arrives at the castle to paint the countess, Boróka’s resemblance to the countess makes her a suitable candidate to stand in for the countess and she spends hours dressed in finery while posing. Boróka’s special treatment doesn’t go unnoticed by the other servants though and they are quick to show their displeasure. There are two older female servants, Dorka and Ilona Jó, who are portrayed as being particularly cruel and the implication is made that they were the real culprits behind the deaths of some of the girls. These women were real people who were accused alongside Báthory and later executed. Ficzko, a young man taken in by the countess and also a real person, befriends Boróka and there is a hint of potential romance but Ficzko is too damaged and is eventually executed alongside the others. Ficzko is a duplicitous character with a split personality so you are never sure of his motives but there is a hint he would have been a better person if he had grown up away from the household.
As the story unfolds, the countess is presented as a mercurial character who seems lonely after the death of her husband and it is this loneliness that partly draws her to Boróka. Báthory is well aware there are forces working against her but seems to do little to counteract them and is caught in their trap in the middle of winter which make it impossible for her to send messengers to her influential family. The countess seems resigned to her fate much to the horror of Boróka who wants her to fight the accusations. Meanwhile, Boróka has been piecing together her own past and with the assistance of a mysterious wooden box that contains a book about the countess inside, she comes to the conclusion that Báthory is in fact her grandmother. The wooden box appears to be magical in some way and people see different things when they open it but it is never fully explained. In the book it just serves as a device to reveal the possible connections between Boróka and Báthory but I’m not sure it particularly works.
Velton should be applauded for attempting to put the record straight about Báthory’s crimes, and it should be remembered the charges were all based on hearsay which would hardly stand up in a modern court. However, there are many who will argue Báthory was not innocent of the murders but the arguments that counter it are very plausible. Sadly, the pace of the book is very slow and I struggled to get through it despite having enjoyed Velton’s previous novels. There was a lot of focus on the servants in the book, presumably as they were being set up for their fall, but their back stories really weren’t that interesting. I would have liked a little more attention on Báthory herself and her powerful political ties which would have leant a little more weight to the conspiracy theories particularly for those of us who are less knowledgeable about Hungarian history, All in all, not a book I particularly enjoyed but I’ll still be looking forward to Velton’s next offering.
