Linda Lafferty Boeken

"Born in the bustling artist quarter of Rome, Artemisia, daughter of renowned painter Orazio Gentileschi, is unavoidably drawn into a profession unheard of for women. With an innate grasp of color, light, and composition, and inspired by the mercurial Caravaggio, the fiery Artemisia embraces her calling with a precocious brilliance. But as a young woman, she also finds herself oppressed by a powerful patriarchy, and she is forced to endure emotional and physical abuse at the hands of men. Until a shattering act of violence unleashes Artemisia's righteous fury. Refusing to be silenced and resolved to best men at their own games, Artemisia does what no woman had dared to do before. She fights back."--Publisher description.

In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon. It's 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother's footsteps. She's a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home. Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations--she as a heroic fighter and he as a spiritual seeker--while the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on. In a captivating tale that brings Durova's memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process.

Raised by her aunt and uncle amidst the rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside, young orphan Virginia Tacci has always harbored a deep love for horses--though she knows she may never have the chance to ride. As a shepherdess in sixteenth-century Italy, Virginia's possibilities are doubly limited by her peasant class and her gender. Yet while she tends her flock, Virginia is captivated by the daring equestrian feats of the high-spirited Isabella De' Medici, who rides with the strength and courage of any man, much to the horror of her brother, the tyrannical Gran Duca Francesco De' Medici. Inspired, the young shepherdess keeps one dream close to her heart: to race in Siena's Palio. Twenty-six years after Florence captured Siena, Virginia's defiance will rally the broken spirit of the Senese people and threaten the pernicious reign of the Gran Duca. Bringing alive the rich history of one of Tuscany's most famed cities, this lush, captivating saga draws an illuminating portrait of one girl with an unbreakable spirit.

Within the glittering Hapsburg court in Prague lurks a darkness that no one dares mention... In 1606, the city of Prague shines as a golden mecca of art and culture carefully cultivated by Emperor Rudolf II. But the emperor hides an ugly secret: His bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son's growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia, where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter's task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins. When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius's frenzied--and dangerous--obsession. To him, she embodies the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was his only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can't stay away. Inspired by a real-life murder that threatened to topple the powerful Hapsburg dynasty, The Bloodletter's Daughter is a dark and richly detailed saga of passion and revenge.

Each morning in the hour before dawn, a silent boat launches on the Bosphorous, moving swiftly into the deepest part of the waters halfway between Europe and Asia, where a man will die...The Drowning Guard is the tale of the Ottoman princess, Esma Sultan - one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history and unlike any other woman in the Islamic world. In a gender reversal of Scheherazade in 1001 Arabian Nights, Esma seduces a different Christian lover each night, only to have him drowned in the morning. The Sultaness's true passion burns only for the Christian-born soldier charged with carrying out the brutal nightly death sentence: her drowning guard, Ivan Postivich.The Drowning Guard explores the riddle of Esma - who is at once a murderer and a champion and liberator of women - and the man who loves her in spite of her horrifying crimes. This textured historical novel, set in the opulence and squalor of Istanbul in 1826, is woven with the complexity and consequences of love.

"The discovery of a lost Caravaggio painting yields centuries of deadly secrets in this pulse-pounding novel of historical intrigue and modern-day suspense... In seventeenth-century Rome, artist Caravaggio drinks and brawls his way through his violent, insatiable life, all while painting some of the world's greatest religious works of art. Now, in the village of Monte Piccolo, a priest claims to have discovered a lost painting by the famed artist in the storage room of an orphanage. Retired professor A. R. Richman believes it's a delusional dream. But Lucia, a visiting art student, convinces him otherwise and recruits her best friend, Moto, to join in the quest. But tracing its provenance back four hundred years could prove to be just as treacherous as the master's final days. Richman, Lucia, and Moto begin chasing the mystery, uncovering a blood feud hidden for years that has now spilled into the twenty-first century. As they follow where it leads - down a trail of murder, betrayal, and vengeance - they find a secret history that someone will kill to keep buried"--from Back cover.

Eine Stunde vor Sonnenaufgang gleitet leise ein Boot über den Bosporus bis zur tiefsten Stelle zwischen Europa und Asien, an der ein Mann sterben wird. Wie in »1001 Nacht«, allerdings mit vertauschten Rollen, verführt Prinzessin Esma jede Nacht einen anderen christlichen Liebhaber und lässt ihn am nächsten Morgen ertränken. Die wahre Leidenschaft der Sultanin gilt einzig dem christlich geborenen Soldaten, dessen Auftrag es ist, die brutale Todesstrafe zu vollziehen: dem Ertränker Ivan Postivich. Dieser im Konstantinopel des Jahres 1826 angesiedelte Roman taucht tief in das Rätsel um eine der mächtigsten Frauen der osmanischen Geschichte ein, die sowohl Mörderin als auch Verfechterin der Frauen ist. Sie zeigt uns, wie vielschichtig und folgenreich die Liebe sein kann.

Habsburg Hanedanlığından gelen kutsal Roma İmparatoru II. Rudolfun muhteşem sarayında kimsenin hakkında konuşamadığı bir karanlık gizleniyor. 1606da Prag, II. Rudolf sayesinde kültür ve sanatta altın bir Mekke gibi parlasa da İmparator çirkin bir sır saklıyor: Gayrimeşru oğlu, Don Julius. Genç Prensin tarifsiz ahlaksızlığına sebep olan delilik hali ve skandalları artık sınırları aşan boyuta geldiğinde onu Bohemyanın uzak bir köşesine gönderen İmparator, orada yaşayan genç ama ünlü hacamatı yardım için görevlendirir. Hacamatın görevi, Prensin damarlarında akan deliliği iyileştirmektir. Hacamatın güzel ve genç kızı babasına yardım ederken, Don Juliusun tehlikeli ve saplantılı deliliğinin hedefi haline gelir. Onun için hacamatın kızı paha biçilmez el yazması olan şifrelerin kitabında resmedilen tanrıça kadınlardan birini temsil etmeye başlamıştır. Zihninin en karanlık noktalarına inerken çaresizleşen Prens gibi Marketa da korkar, etkilenir ve artık uzak duramayacak kadar bu aşka saplanır. Linda Laffertynin Roma İmparatorluğu için büyük bir tehdit olan gerçek bir cinayetten esinlenerek yazdığı Hacamat, karanlık ve zengin anlatımıyla tutku ve intikamın destanı! (Tanıtım Bülteninden)

Na počátku sedmnáctého století vládla na čachtickém hradě ve slovenském vnitrozemí Alžběta Báthoryová, neblaze proslulá „krvavá hraběnka“. Při bizarních nočních rituálech mučila a vraždila mladé ženy, které si vybírala za služky. Ďábelská, démonická žena, postrach Královského Uherska – koupala se v jejich krvi, aby si zachovala mládí. O čtyři sta let později se ozvěny hraběnčiny pověstné krutosti začnou objevovat v coloradském městečku Aspen. Betsy Pathová, psycholožka s neobyčejně pronikavou intuicí, má mezi pacienty nekomunikativní mladou dívku Daisy Hartovou, u níž jednoho dne nastane průlom v léčbě. Společnými silami se snaží čelit minulosti, která je pronásleduje na každém kroku, a pochopit její dopad na současnost. Betsy a její problematická, leč vnímavá pacientka se nakonec dopátrají pravdy: kletba rodu Báthoryů žije dál a je stále tak mocná, že může i v dnešní době napáchat velké zlo. Příběh plný palácových intrik a citlivě vykreslených postav, skvěle okořeněný dobovými detaily, osciluje mezi naším známým, moderním světem a východní Evropou sedmnáctého století, jež před čtenářovýma očima nečekaně ožívá ve všech barvách.