The Nightingale's Castle (Sonia Velton)

In the vein of riveting historical novels such as Hamnet and Circe-with a touch of Dracula-a propulsive, gothic 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 in a world of simmering political intrigue, 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?

Sonia Velton has been a solicitor in Hong Kong, a Robert Schuman Scholar in Luxembourg, and spent eight years as an expat mother of three in Dubai. She now lives in Kent, England. She is the author of Blackberry and Wild Rose-which was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown and has been optioned for film-and The Image of Her, a literary thriller.