Because of his increasingly violent
behavior, sexual misconduct and gluttony, King Rudolph II, Emperor of
the Austro-Hungarial empire, isolates his bastard son, Don Julius, in
a remote castle in the Czeck town of Cesky Krumlov. From a window in
the castle, Don Julius sees the river and becomes infatuated with a
Marketa, a bathmaid. Her father owns the bathhouse which her mother
runs, but her father is also the local barber-surgeon. Marketa hates
being a bathmaid, scrubbing the locals and sometimes being forced to
satisfy their sexual needs. She dreams of being a doctor like her
father. Eventually, a relationship develops between the prince and
the bathmaid. At first he seems to truly love her, but his violent
nature asserts itself and the story ends in tragedy.
The author has found a fascinating true
story and done a good job of researching the 1600's in Bohemia. The
setting and the manners of local people are very realistic. I enjoyed
that part of the book very much.
The novel became tedious after the
first two hundred pages. The characters are wooden. They seem more
like puppets acting in the service of the story than real people
whose personalities drive the action. This may be partly due to the
length of the book. It is over 500 pages. Personally, I think 300
pages could be removed to make the story more poignant. The author
seems to be trying to tell the story of the downfall of King Rudolph
II as well as the story of his mad son, but the connection isn't
close enough to make a coherent story.
The book is not well written. It's full
of tired description and the dialog is often stilted. I finished the
book, but it was a chore rather than a pleasure. I found the ending
quite remarkable. I guess the author tried to rescue the book with a
happy ending. I can't recommend this book unless you're very
interested in the history of Bohemia, that is well researched.
I reviewed this book for the Amazon
Vine Program.
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