I am Hungarian myself so when I saw this book about a Hungarian countess at Barnes and Noble, I grabbed it immediately. It took me a while to actually get to reading it but I am glad I did. Of course, I have already known about Erzsebet Bathory, learning about her time in my history classes. In fact, my oral high school leaving history exam was about the Bocskai Revolution. While this book does good service to dissolve the myth about the "vampire" countess, I believe that the historical background is not very well developed. Without fully understanding the period, the war against the Turks, the role of the Habsburgs and Transylvania, it is a little hard to fully comprehend the conspiracy theory of which the countess was likely the victim. There were a lot of political intricacies during that time and with her wealth and influence and strong family ties to the Transylvanian princes, she was a serious threat to the weak Habsburg system and the palatine. Her being kept in a tower without a fair trial or without her chance to defend herself were considered illegal even in those chaotic times. While it seems certain even from this book that she was a cruel mistress, the book alludes - but not fully explain - to the fact that she was indeed a victim of her time. While the historical background was not well developed, the character of the countess was. All those experiences as a child as well as a young wife led to her treatment of servants while a mistress. However, what was accepted from men - her father and her husband - was intolerable from a woman. She could not have been treated like this if her husband had still been alive or if her son had been older to defend her. It was an interesting historical book with a few typos occurring in the Hungarian names. Yet, the author is commendable for taking on such a task. She did a good job. This book is mostly a 2.5 star yawner. I was prepared a slow descent to madness for Elizabeth Bathory. It felt more like a meander that hit, no slumped to, a dead end. At the end, I neither felt sympathy nor disgust about the Countess.The book buried me in a litany of names. The names of the royalty were burdensome. The servant girls could have been given more reason to care for them. I understand the Countess was telling the story but there could have been another character who vouched for the innocence or goodness of the servant girls.
What do You think about A Condessa (2010)?
A Hungarian countess of the 1600's tells of her life and the horrors she inflicts on her servants.
—elan47
Interesting story of the Hungarian Countess told through her eyes.
—parvinsandhu
