Dandelions In The Garden edition by Charlie Courtland Bob Helle Literature Fiction eBooks
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A historical fiction novel about one of the most infamous female mass murderers in history, the 16th century Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Bathory.
Amara Borbala is certain she is the only living person in the sane world with intimate knowledge concerning the life and exploits of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory. After all, she was Elizabeth’s companion and confidant since her eleventh year. In 1573, after the death of her mother, Amara is sent by her cousin to serve as a lady-in-waiting at the castles of Sarvar, Varanno, and Cachtice.
Now it is years later, 1628, and Amara is aging, alone, and reduced to eavesdropping at her favorite café around the corner from her townhouse in Vienna. Befuddled by gossiping ladies, Amara determines perhaps it is time to finally put a stop to the rumors and once and for all, answer the question, ‘Is it true?’ Did Elizabeth Bathory, a descendant of Vlad Tepes really commit the horrible acts of torture, bathe in the blood of slaughtered virgins, and dabble in the dark magic that she was accused of during her trial?
One thing is certain, Amara knows the truth, but will it be enough to explain the habits of her friend?
Dandelions In The Garden is book one in a two-part series that begins with the journey of Amara, an impressionable girl who follows the Blood Countess through all the horrid events, which lead to her rise and secure her place in history.
Dandelions In The Garden edition by Charlie Courtland Bob Helle Literature Fiction eBooks
I just finished "Dandelions In The Garden" by Charlie Courtland, the pen name of Kelly Elizabeth Lee. I was apprehensive about purchasing this book because I have read nearly everything related to Countess Bathory written in English (historical and fictional) and was worried that a new author would have nothing new to say. I was pleasantly pleased that Ms. Courtland did her homework and that many of the characters in the book are realistically based on historical facts.The novel (Part One of a two-part series) is told from the point of view of an entirely fictional Amara Borbala, a lady-in-waiting to thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Bathory from the age of eleven in 1573 through present-day 1628. Amara decides to tell the story of Elizabeth to John Drugeth, the nineteen-year-old son of Elizabeth's daughter Kate and son-in-law George Homannay Drugeth before his impending marriage.
Elizabeth's infidelity while engaged to her husband, her subsequent marriage, and numerous affairs are explored in an effort to possibly explain her behavior later on. Ms. Courtland's theories explain Elizabeth's mistreatment of servant girls better than the standard blood-bathing/sadomasochistic obsession that most authors accept at face value. The novel ends in 1585, shortly after the birth of Elizabeth's daughter, Anna, and Elizabeth's discovery of the portrait of a certain Wallachian Prince from the previous century who may be related to the Countess.
The only criticism I have is in the editing. There are numerous spelling and grammatical errors that should have been corrected and hopefully will be in subsequent editions. I'm afraid that independent publishing companies depend on computers to be editors and phrases like "Elizabeth and I" are assumed to always be correct when it should read "Elizabeth and me" half of the time.
I still look forward to volume 2.
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Dandelions In The Garden edition by Charlie Courtland Bob Helle Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
I found this book after reading Johns' _The Countess_ and looking for other historical fictions about Elizabeth Bathory. Unfortunately, this book is only remotely historical and is more of a romance novel about the first-person narrator, Amara, with Bathory as a footnote at best. Though the novel has some amusing moments, they are the adventures of a romance-novel heroine, not of historical figures. The piece is full of anachronisms and historical inaccuracies--but these aren't the most annoying features of the novel.
This novel is full of grammatical errors, to the point where there's nearly one in every sentence. There are run-ons, fragments, tense errors (sometimes tenses shift within a single sentence!), verb confusion, problems with direct objects, punctuation errors, and distracting apostrophe problems. I found the errors so distracting, it was hard to enjoy the book at all. In addition, there were errors in word usage, where words were used incorrectly or homonyms were confused. As a Creative Writing teacher, I shuddered with each new error. Certainly, the author could have found an editor; if she had one (as I supposedly bought the newer, more edited version), she should fire him/her and demand her money back!
Finally, and perhaps most annoyingly, there are quotes from Nine Inch Nails' song "Hurt" sprinkled awkwardly throughout. Every time I read one, it jarred me out of the story and made me think of the song and how unlike the story and out-of-place it was in this piece.
Overall, if you want a bodice-ripper and don't mind song lyrics and bad grammar, this is an all right book. However, if you're looking for something about the historical Bathory, read Johns' _The Countess_ instead.
The first and foremost problem with this book is that it is in desperate need of an editor and a proofreader. It indicates that there is an editor for the edition available as of March 4, 2011 but I downloaded it on September 23, 2012 and if this is the improved version I am truly glad I did not see the original. There are (still) frequent homonym confusions and typos in spelling (e.g. than for then) throughout the book as well as misused words. Some can be forgiven for a good story, but one every two or three pages makes it hard to focus on the story and derails the reader from the storyline.
A similar problem occurs with anachronistic locations. In particular, we have Lady Amara going to a coffee house in Vienna in 1628. This is only a mild problem, but the first documented coffee house in Europe was in Venice in 1644. A more serious error occurs with the excursion of the ladies (Elizabeth and Amara) with Thomas Buckley to an establishment in Vienna with a sign saying "PUB" over the door. The earliest citations of pub in the OED are from the mid-1800s. Even if this was an attempt to translate a meaningful sign, it fails miserably. Pub is short for "public house" and yet it is indicated that this establishment is a private club for members of specific interests. Lady Amara also makes frequent use of anachronistic terms in her thought expressions; a minor issue perhaps, but it breaks the mood.
Finally, this book lacks the necessary climax to consider it a novel. I do understand that it is the first part of a two-part series, but it still needs some partial resolution or minor climax. The title could provide a source for this but does not appear to connect in any way with the book. See Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy for an example of how this could be done. The termination of the book with Lady Amara's collapse before completing the story is highly unsatisfactory for a novel however appropriate it might be for a television series.
I will not be acquiring the second part to see how the story ends.
I just finished "Dandelions In The Garden" by Charlie Courtland, the pen name of Kelly Elizabeth Lee. I was apprehensive about purchasing this book because I have read nearly everything related to Countess Bathory written in English (historical and fictional) and was worried that a new author would have nothing new to say. I was pleasantly pleased that Ms. Courtland did her homework and that many of the characters in the book are realistically based on historical facts.
The novel (Part One of a two-part series) is told from the point of view of an entirely fictional Amara Borbala, a lady-in-waiting to thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Bathory from the age of eleven in 1573 through present-day 1628. Amara decides to tell the story of Elizabeth to John Drugeth, the nineteen-year-old son of Elizabeth's daughter Kate and son-in-law George Homannay Drugeth before his impending marriage.
Elizabeth's infidelity while engaged to her husband, her subsequent marriage, and numerous affairs are explored in an effort to possibly explain her behavior later on. Ms. Courtland's theories explain Elizabeth's mistreatment of servant girls better than the standard blood-bathing/sadomasochistic obsession that most authors accept at face value. The novel ends in 1585, shortly after the birth of Elizabeth's daughter, Anna, and Elizabeth's discovery of the portrait of a certain Wallachian Prince from the previous century who may be related to the Countess.
The only criticism I have is in the editing. There are numerous spelling and grammatical errors that should have been corrected and hopefully will be in subsequent editions. I'm afraid that independent publishing companies depend on computers to be editors and phrases like "Elizabeth and I" are assumed to always be correct when it should read "Elizabeth and me" half of the time.
I still look forward to volume 2.
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