The Bloodletter's Daughter by Linda Lafferty

Some times books fall into your hands in weird ways.  It's no secret the WHHS LMC isn't exactly rolling in the dough.  We are always on the lookout for cheap but current materials, especially popular fiction.  Amazon actually has a list of the top 100 books under $5.  I found this in that list with good reviews.  I had no idea there was a local connection.  More on that in a minute.

This was not an easy read.  It is also based on a true story.  Head back to the start of the 1600s....

King Rudolf is rumored to be dabbling in Satanism, withcraft, fortunetelling....at a time when Catholics and Protestants battle over land Muslims want.  Rudolf has no legimate heirs, but a pletohra of children by mistresses.  He is very protective of them, even though they can never inherit the throne.  Instead, Rudolf's younger brother Matthias, a fierce warrior, awaits the day he will be crowned king.  Matthias is running out of patience however.  As time passes, it becomes clear Guiglio, also known as Julius, the king's oldest son, is crazy.  No; he's a psychopath.  Binge eating and drinking, murder, rape...he takes pleasure in all things evil.

Marketa is the daughter of a bloodletter.  Little background here--people used to think one could cure their ills with bloodlettting by leeches.  Ick.  Anyway, Marketa knows the craft/science better than anyone thanks to her father's teachings, but as a woman, she can never be a "doctor".  Instead, she is doomed to life as a bathhouse maid, run by her greedy mother, who eagerly awaits the day she can sell off this "another mouth to feed".

When the King realizes Matthias intends to use Julius's mental illness in an attempt to take over the throne, Rudolf has Julius imprisoned in a castle near Marketa's home.  Marketa assists her father in treating the insane man.  Part infatuation, part defiance, part attempt to marry rich, Marketa ignores her heart (she has fallen in love with a fellow scientist named Jakub), and she goes to Julius's tower cell late at night.  You can imagine what ensues.

Marketa's rape and near murder is horrible and not easy to read.  BUT she survives, and begins a plot to save the world from the evil that is Julius.  With the help of a witch (Annabelle), a nun (her aunt), Jakub, and priest....well, I won't spoil any more.  Just remember the state summer reading theme is heroes.

This is based on a true story.  The rape and murder of Marketa Pilcherova shocked Bohemia.  What is interesting for us here in the New Haven area is in the notes to the story, the author tells us that the book Julius was obsessed with (central to the plot, but I won't tell how here) now lies in the Beinecke Library at Yale.  And it is inscribed with the name Jakub.  Did Jakub help along Julius's madness?  Did he too believe some of the occultish stuff Julius did, even though he was a scientist?  We will never know.

As stated, some sexual content including a rape.