
The Nightingale's Castle
A Novel of Erzsébet Báthory, the Blood Countess
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Narrated by:
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Elinor Coleman
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By:
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Sonia Velton
About this listen
In the vein of riveting historical novels such as Hamnet and Circe—with a touch of Dracula—a propulsive feminist reimagining of the story of Erzsébet Báthory, the infamous sixteenth-century Hungarian aristocrat known as the “Blood Countess”, who was rumored to have murdered hundreds of peasant girls and bathed in their blood.
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?
©2024 Sonia Velton (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Leedswick Castle has housed the Alnwick family in the English countryside for generations, despite a family curse determined to destroy their legacy and erase them from history. Three beloved authors share stories of the Alnwick family through the generations, revealing how love and war can change a place—but only its people can unshackle it from the misdeeds of the past.
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Love this book
- By Melissa on 10-31-24
By: Aimie K. Runyan, and others
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Sisters of Shiloh
- By: Kathy Hepinstall, Becky Hepinstall Hilliker
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Before joining the Confederate Army, brothers Joseph and Thomas were actually sisters, Josephine and Libby. But that bloodiest battle, Antietam, leaves Libby widowed. She vows vengeance, dons her husband Arden’s clothes, and sneaks off to enlist with the Stonewall Brigade, swearing to kill one Yankee for every year of her husband’s too-short life. Desperate to protect her grief-crazed sister, Josephine insists on joining her. Surrounded by flying bullets, deprivation, and illness, the sisters are found by other dangers.
By: Kathy Hepinstall, and others
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The Memory Keeper
- By: Corin Burnside
- Narrated by: Peta Cornish
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Having grown up surrounded by nature, Bella Gardner loves nothing more than getting her hands dirty. When war breaks out, she immediately signs up for the Air Transport Auxiliary, frustrated she can’t play a more active role, yet keen to do something for the war effort. But when her brother is involved in a tragic accident, Bella must make a decision that changes the course of her life forever.
By: Corin Burnside
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Fervor
- A Novel
- By: Toby Lloyd
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Hannah and Eric Rosenthal are devout Jews living in North London with their three children and Eric’s father Yosef, a Holocaust survivor. Both intellectually gifted and deeply unconventional, the Rosenthals believe in the literal truth of the Old Testament and in the presence of God (and evil) in daily life.
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Jewish tradition
- By LizBowlin on 01-14-25
By: Toby Lloyd
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The Ghost Cat
- A Novel
- By: Alex Howard
- Narrated by: Alex Howard
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Early morning, 1902. At 7/7 Marchmont Crescent, Eilidh the charlady tips coal into a fire grate and sets it alight. Overhearing, Grimalkin the cat ambles over to curl up against the welcome heat and lick his favorite human's hand. But this is to be his last day on earth…before he becomes the Ghost Cat. Follow Grimalkin as he witnesses the changes of the next 120 years, prowling unseen among the inhabitants of an Edinburgh tenement while unearthing some startling revelations about the mystery of existence, the unstoppable march of time and the true meaning of feline companionship.
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Waste of time
- By SHAYNE PROCTER on 03-26-25
By: Alex Howard
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We, the Drowned
- By: Carsten Jensen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, Denmark, whose inhabitants sailed the world from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. The novel tells of ships wrecked and blown up in wars, of places of terror and violence that continue to lure each generation. The result is a brilliant seafaring novel, a gripping saga encompassing industrial growth, the years of expansion and exploration, the crucible of the first half of the twentieth century, and most of all, the sea.
By: Carsten Jensen
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The Hidden Book
- A Novel
- By: Kirsty Manning
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Nabben
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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From bestselling author Kirsty Manning comes a stunning novel based on a true story of clandestine courage in World War II as prisoners of war risk their lives to secure evidence of Nazi atrocities—and how one man concealed it for decades before passing it on to his family who struggle to understand their inherited legacy of trauma.
By: Kirsty Manning
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The Captive
- A Novel
- By: Fiona King Foster
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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A rural noir about a woman on a pulse-pounding expedition to deliver a fugitive - and forced to confront her own past on the journey.
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Very enjoyable
- By Jim Bowien on 08-11-23
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Lizzy and Jane
- By: Katherine Reay
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Lizzy and Jane couldn’t be further from Jane Austen’s famous sisters for whom they are named. Elizabeth left her family’s home in Seattle 15 years ago to pursue her lifelong dream - chefing her own restaurant in New York City. Jane stayed behind to raise a family. Estranged since their mother’s death many years ago, the circumstances of their lives are about to bring them together once again.
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Great and difficult relationship between sisters
- By Sadie n Connolly on 09-15-24
By: Katherine Reay
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Bonnie
- A Novel
- By: Christina Schwarz
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in a small town in the desolate reaches of Western Texas and shaped by her girlhood in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Dallas, Bonnie Parker was a natural performer and a star student. She dreamed of being a movie star or a singer or a poet. But her dramatic nature, contorted by her limited opportunities and her overwhelming love for Clyde Barrow, pushed her into a course from which there was no escape but death.
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Authentic and beautiful writing
- By Eugenia Luck on 10-07-20
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Soul Riders: The Epic Star Stable Trilogy
- The Soul Riders Series, Books 1-3
- By: Helena Dahlgren
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Lisa Peterson is a teenage girl who is coming to terms with the tragic loss of her mother in a riding accident. Lisa swore she would never ride again, but everything changes when she moves to the island of Jorvik and meets Starshine, a mysterious steed with a blue mane. In the stable, Lisa befriends Alex, Linda, and Anne, and together they start to realize that they all have magical connections with their horses—and each other.
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🤠🤠🐎🐴
- By Scott on 01-13-24
By: Helena Dahlgren
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Countess
- By: Suzan Palumbo
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Virika Sameroo lives in colonized space under the Æerbot Empire, much like her ancestors before her in the British West Indies. After years of working hard to rise through the ranks of the empire’s merchant marine, she’s finally become first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel. When her captain dies under suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for murder and charged with treason despite her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path of revenge, determined to take down the evil empire that wronged her.
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Inspiring and timely
- By Julia Larson on 02-25-25
By: Suzan Palumbo
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Lost Believers
- A Novel
- By: Irina Zhorov
- Narrated by: Gilli Messer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Galina, a promising young geologist from Moscow, is falling in love with her pilot, Snow Crane, on an expedition for minerals in Siberia. As their helicopter hovers over what should be a stretch of uninhabited forest, they see a small hut and a garden—and, the following day, when they hike from their field camp to the hut, they find a family.
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Lost believers
- By Amazon Customer on 07-08-24
By: Irina Zhorov
What listeners say about The Nightingale's Castle
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darcia Helle
- 08-31-24
Mixed Thoughts - Fantastic Audio Performance
Erzsebet Bathory, the Blood Countess, is a historical figure reviled for (allegedly) murdering hundreds of peasant girls and bathing in their blood.
But did she do it?
In THE NIGHTINGALE’S CASTLE, we’re introduced to an alternate version of Bathory, as a woman in power persecuted by the men who resent her.
I loved the premise of this story. The writing was good and held my interest. Ultimately, though, the execution fell a little short for me.
First, we have a lot of POV characters. I lost track of how many. I listened to the audiobook, which made it harder for me to keep up with the quick procession of characters. Bathory’s character remains in the background through much of the story, with the focus instead on the young women in her home.
Then we have a magical element that’s introduced late and not really explored. And that makes this book fantasy-adjacent, not really fantasy but also not plausible in reality. I needed to go deeper into that magic for the fantasy aspect to work, or to remove it altogether for a more realistic exploration.
The audiobook production is well done. Elinor Coleman does a fantastic job with the narration.
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