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The Countess
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Download or read book The Countess written by Rebecca Johns and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-09-27 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Countess written by Lynsay Sands and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-01-25 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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!
Book Synopsis Class with the Countess by : Luann De Lesseps
Download or read book Class with the Countess written by Luann De Lesseps and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides advice on etiquette and modern social graces, covering the art of being oneself in any situation, ways to make other people comfortable, and the art of seduction.
Download or read book Blood Countess written by Lana Popovic and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A lush and bloody historical thriller” based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula, a Hungarian noblewoman turned serial killer.(Kirkus Reviews) In sixteenth-century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend, confident and lover. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess t”akes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too. “Popovic balances lush, romantic language with gruesome imagery in this tale of innocence lost. Readers will likely be inspired to do actual research into Lady Bathory’s murderous misdeeds.” —Booklist “Popovic also touches on how a patriarchal society can drive women to extremes without letting the truly terrifying Bathory, or Anna, off the hook for their own actions.” —Kirkus Reviews “Hand to fans of dark historical fiction and powerful female characters.” —School Library Journal
Download or read book The Countess written by Catherine Coulter and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to secure her future, 21-year old Andrea Jameson decides to marry the much older Earl of Devebridge. But she soon falls for his nephew, the handsome John, and her future becomes less certain as her life takes a dramatic turn for the worse.
Book Synopsis The Blood Countess by : Andrei Codrescu
Download or read book The Blood Countess written by Andrei Codrescu and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Book Synopsis The Black Reckoning by : John Stephens
Download or read book The Black Reckoning written by John Stephens and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final book in the bestselling Books of Beginning trilogy that began with The Emerald Atlas, which the New York Times called “a new Narnia for the tween set.” The adventures of siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma come to a stunning conclusion when they must find the last Book of Beginning—the Book of Death—before the Dire Magnus does, for when all three books are united, their combined power will be unstoppable. Soon Emma is on a journey to places both worldly and otherworldly, confronting terrifying monsters and ghosts, and what is darkest within herself. As the fabric of time begins to fray, she becomes the final piece of an extraordinary puzzle. Only if she can master the powers of this most dangerous book will she, Kate, and Michael be able to save the world from the dramatic, deadly final confrontation between magical and ordinary people that the Dire Magnus has in store.
Book Synopsis Shakespeare and the Countess by : Chris Laoutaris
Download or read book Shakespeare and the Countess written by Chris Laoutaris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1596, a countess signed a document that would nearly destroy the career of William Shakespeare. Who was this woman who played such an instrumental, yet little known, role in Shakespeare's life? Never far from controversy when she was alive—she sparked numerous riots and indulged in acts of bribery, breaking-and-entering, and kidnapping—Lady Elizabeth Russell has been edited out of public memory, yet the chain of events she set in motion would make Shakespeare the legendary figure we all know today. Lady Elizabeth Russell’s extraordinary life made her one of the most formidable women of the Renaissance. The daughter of King Edward VI’s tutor, she blazed a trail across Elizabethan England as an intellectual and radical Protestant. And, in November 1596, she became the leader of a movement aimed at destroying the career of William Shakespeare—a plot that resulted in the closure of the Blackfriars Theatre but the construction, instead, of the Globe. Providing new pieces to this puzzle, Chris Laoutaris's rousing history reveals for the first time this startling battle against Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
Book Synopsis The Countess Invention by : Judith Lynne
Download or read book The Countess Invention written by Judith Lynne and published by Judith Lynne. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She needs a man's help to protect her secret identity. She doesn't need to fall in love. Can he help without drawing her into his own tangled web? London inventor Mr. Cullen is actually Miss Cassandra Cullen, happy hiding behind her letters. When some new customers want to meet face to face, she has to trust Dr. Burke, her favorite correspondent, to help keep her secrets. Trusting Oliver Burke might not be entirely wise. Dr. Burke occupies himself with women and gin, trying to forget his soul-crushing family and the nightmares of the war. He'd rather distance himself from polite society as much as possible. One too many indiscretions, and Cass' father insists: Marry. Now. Nothing less than an earl will do. He doesn't realize his mostly deaf daughter will turn for help to the one man she thinks she knows. Can a woman who's given up on love and a man who's given up on hope find a future together? The Countess Invention is about two people who have to believe in each other to find dizzying pleasure, devastating heartbreak... and forever love. "Sensational and riveting from the first word to the last. ... 10 out of 10." The BookLife Prize It's a historical Regency romance novel with steamy moments and sweet ones, of about 350 pages. It includes an admittedly bad attempt at cross-dressing and a woman who believes in pockets. It also includes a beautiful man who has made love to too many ladies and a Happily Ever After! All Judith Lynne books can stand alone, but old friends stay in touch and old questions are answered as the books progress. A complete timeline is available at judithlynne.com. — Judith Lynne's Regency romances are for modern lovers of classic romance, meticulously researched, with a family of characters as rich and diverse as Britain herself at the time. The Lords and Undefeated Ladies series is light, fun reading featuring characters with disabilities for whom their disability is not the drama. Fans of Mary Balogh and Grace Burrowes will love Judith Lynne. Dukes and thieves, bakers and baronets, inventors and artists and late-night adventurers — you'll meet them all.
Book Synopsis The Tattooed Countess by : Carl Van Vechten
Download or read book The Tattooed Countess written by Carl Van Vechten and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-11 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mr. Van Vechten has hitherto, often and with justice, been compared to Mr. Aldous Huxley, by reason of the insouciant flippancy of his fiction. But now he has gone beyond Huxley through the production of a story which, without ever losing wit, dexterity, an instinct for civilized charm, yet presents full-length and solidly the portraits not only of the gay countess but of the lugubrious persons whom she is fated to meet, to court, to hurt so pitifully, so inevitably. There are, one hears, accounts these days in the public prints of a banker named Dawes, of a biochemist named Brother Charlie or possibly Charley. But now the fifty or sixty thousand amiable citizens among our hundred and ten million Nordics who do not feel fulfilled in Brother Charlie or Charley, nor even in Brother Charlie's brother, may find civilized delight in a real book-"The Tattooed Countess."--The Saturday Review, Volume 1
Book Synopsis Courting the Countess by : Jenny Frame
Download or read book Courting the Countess written by Jenny Frame and published by Bold Strokes Books Inc. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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?
Book Synopsis The Duchess Countess by : Catherine Ostler
Download or read book The Duchess Countess written by Catherine Ostler and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the adventurous life of the stylish and scandalous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston—a woman whose infamous trial was bigger news in British society than the American War of Independence. “Bridgerton fans take note: For sheer incident and drama, Chudleigh’s story rivals any episode of the popular Regency-era Netflix series. And it’s all true” (The Washington Post). As maid of honor to the Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Chudleigh enjoyed a luxurious life in the inner circle of the Hanoverian court. With her extraordinary style and engaging wit, she both delighted and scandalized the press and public. She would later even inspire William Thackeray when he was writing his classic Vanity Fair, providing the inspiration for the alluring social climber Becky Sharp. But Elizabeth’s real story is more complex and surprising than anything out of fiction. 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 gossamer dress—it’s no wonder that Elizabeth’s eventual trial was a sensation. Charged with bigamy, an accusation she vehemently fought against, Elizabeth refused to submit to public humiliation and retire quietly. “A superb, gripping, decadent, colorful biography that brings an extraordinary woman and a whole world blazingly to life” (Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author), The Duchess Countess is perfect for fans of Bridgerton, Women of Means, and The Crown.
Book Synopsis The Countess and the King by : Susan Holloway Scott
Download or read book The Countess and the King written by Susan Holloway Scott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Katherine Sedley lived by her own rules and loved who she pleased- until she became the infamous mistress of King James II... London, 1675: Born to wealth and privilege, Katherine is introduced to the decadent court of King Charles II, and quickly becomes a favorite from the palace to the bawdy playhouses. She gleefully snubs respectable marriage to become the Duke of York's mistress. But Katherine's life of carefree pleasure ends when Charles II dies, and her lover becomes King James II. Suddenly she is cast into a tangle of political intrigue, religious dissent, and ever-shifting alliances, where a wrong step can mean treason, exile, or death at the executioner's block. As the risks rise, Katherine is forced to make the most perilous of choices: to remain loyal to the king, or to England.
Book Synopsis Margaret Pole by : Susan Higginbotham
Download or read book Margaret Pole written by Susan Higginbotham and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of 'The King's Curse'; the extraordinary life of Margaret Pole, niece of Richard III, loyal servant of the Tudors.
Book Synopsis La Divine Comtesse by : Pierre Apraxine
Download or read book La Divine Comtesse written by Pierre Apraxine and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Issued in conjuction with the exhibition of the same title held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 18 Sept. - 31 Dec. 2000.
Book Synopsis A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by : Dianne Freeman
Download or read book A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder written by Dianne Freeman and published by Countess Of Harleigh Mystery. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, enjoys more freedom as a widow than she did as a wife. With her young daughter in tow, Frances rents a home in Belgravia and prepares to welcome her sister, Lily, arriving from New York for her first London season. But no sooner has Frances begun her new life than the Metropolitan police receive an anonymous letter implicating Frances in her husband's death. Frances assures Inspector Delaney of her innocence, but she's also keen to keep him from learning the scandalous circumstances of Reggie's demise. As fate would have it, her dashing new neighbor, George Hazelton, is one of only two other people aware of the full story. While busy with social engagements on Lily's behalf, and worrying if Reggie really was murdered, Frances rallies her wits, a circle of gossips, and the ever-chivalrous Mr. Hazelton to uncover the truth. A killer is in their midst and Frances must unmask the villain before Lily's season, and their lives, come to a most unseemly end.
Book Synopsis Tuscan Countess by : Michele K. Spike
Download or read book Tuscan Countess written by Michele K. Spike and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[This] marvelous biography peels back layer upon layer of previous myth to render a startling new portrait of the countess. . . . Absorbing.” —Publishers Weekly Tuscan Countess is a fast-paced and colorful exploration of the life of Matilda of Canossa (c. 1046–1115), a woman who loved a pope and was loved by him, successfully defied the Holy Roman Emperor, and changed the map of Europe. Matilda of Canossa, the “Great Countess,” was a remarkable woman. Her personal power was so extraordinary that even centuries after her death she became the first woman to be interred in St. Peter's Basilica. She is best remembered for her role in the conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman emperor, the climax of which took place at her castle of Canossa. This unique biography is also a journal of the author's travels through contemporary Tuscany as she explores the palaces where Matilda held court, the blood-stained plains on which her soldiers battled, the churches and cathedrals she endowed, and the fortified aeries where she sought refuge. Readers will be swept along on this engrossing journey retracing the steps of a courageous and brilliant woman.
