The Bloodletters Daughter, Linda Lafferty
The Bloodletters Daughter, Linda Lafferty
2 Rating(s)
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The Bloodletter's Daughter
A Novel of Old Bohemia

Author: Linda Lafferty

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Unabridged: 13 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 09/04/2012

Synopsis

Within the glittering Hapsburg court in Prague lurks a darkness of which no one dares speak…In 1606, the city of Prague shines as a golden mecca of art and culture carefully cultivated by Emperor Rudolf II. But the emperor hides an ugly secret: His bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son’s growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter’s task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins.When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius’s frenzied—and dangerous—obsession. To him, she is the embodiment of the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was the mad prince’s only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can’t stay away.Inspired by a real-life murder that threatened to topple the powerful Hapsburg dynasty, The Bloodletter’s Daughter is a dark and richly detailed saga of passion and revenge.

About Linda Lafferty

The daughter of a naval commander, Linda Lafferty attended fourteen different schools growing up, ultimately graduating from the University of Colorado with a master’s degree and a PhD in education. Her peripatetic childhood nourished a lifelong love of travel, and she studied abroad in England, France, Mexico, and Spain. Her uncle introduced her to the sport of polo when she was just ten years old, and she enjoys playing to this day. She also competed on the Lancaster University Riding Team in England in stadium jumping, cross country, and dressage. A veteran school educator, she juggled teaching and horse training while writing this book. She lives in Colorado.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 16, 2021

This book was inspired by the true story of Don Julius, the illegitimate son of Hapsburg Emperor Rudolf. Don Julius was a mentally ill young man who scandalized the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1600s, when he cold-bloodedly murdered a young girl who worked in a Bohemian bathhouse. As the book ope......more

Goodreads review by Johanna on September 21, 2012

Holy historical innacuracies, Batman. The big one being that Queen Elizabeth was dead by 1606. That took me out of the book a little, but the story was still so compelling...until the end, when everyone starts acting like they normally would not, characters are thrown in like Dr. Jelinek and Dr. Jan......more

Goodreads review by Annette on December 18, 2017

Based on a true story of the bathmaid Marketa Pichlerova and the scandalous butchery that rocked the European royal courts in 1608. Set mainly in Cesky Krumlov, at the time Bohemia, during the reign of King Rudolf II of Austria. Marketa, girl of 16, despises being a bathmaid, forced by her mother aga......more

Goodreads review by Jade on September 23, 2012

Oh bejeesus, where to start? Sometimes there's a reason you don't get published for 30 years and it's not because you have unrecognized/unappreciated genius. Sometimes it's just because you're not a terribly good writer. 1. We get it. It's historical fiction set in the overwhelmingly beautiful land of......more

Goodreads review by Susan on November 26, 2012

I don't remember how I got sucked into reading this book. Maybe it was recommended on Kindle by some people who were friends of the author who raved that they could not put it down. While it was a mindless and easy read, I regret having spent the time to plug through it when so many quality books ar......more

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