The Last Handmaid by Clare Whitfield

I was drawn to this book for two reasons: first, it’s about Countess Erzsébet Báthory – I read about her in Sonia Velton’s The Nightingale’s Castle a few years ago and have been meaning to explore further – and also, I enjoyed Clare Whitfield’s previous novel, Poor Girls, and hoped this one would be just as good. The Last Handmaid is set in the early 17th century and is narrated by Catalina, a young woman who finds herself alone in the world after losing first her mother and then Varga, the monk who raises her and whom she considers as close as an uncle. Rejecting Varga’s dying wish that she should become a nun and enter a convent, Catalina instead takes a job in the laundry of a castle belonging to Countess Erzsébet Báthory. No sooner has she begun to settle into her new position and make friends, her life is disrupted again when she plays a part in foiling an assassination attempt against the countess. This is the start of a close but uneasy relationship with the countess, who takes…

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