Wow, what a book! I loved this and I have to admit when I lost my Smart Phone part of me was thinking, never mind Jane, now you have more time on the train to read this instead of playing around on the Internet.
I found this by accident on the Kindle store. It's the first part of a trilogy based around the last days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, 1904-1914, ending with the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand in Sarajevo. To be honest I thought it would be a bit slow and heavy. But no way, it has been amazing and this morning I downloaded the other two parts. I am addicted!
I have successfully been transported to life in Transylvania and Budapest between 1904 and 1906. the main character is a lovely, aristocratic naive guy who has returned back to his Mother in their castle and how he falls in love with Adrienne, who is married to a sadistic, evil bastard.
Things I have learnt thanks to this book:
How women in this society wear the metaphorical trousers and run the households like a tight ship. How men can lose everything over the gambling tables. How to entertain a big-wig at a game shoot who can't shoot straight. How to organise a duel. How to save villagers from pay day loan sharks. How to camp in the forest with the gypsies. How poor men manipulate rich women of marriageable age for money. How servant girls are so easily abused. How women are nothing more than their husbands possessions. How to have a successful, secret, illicit affair. How to trash parliament and have a riot. How to manipulate the weak (both poor and rich). What to wear to a Ball and what to drink until 6 in the morning if you don't want to collapse in your own vomit.
Yes, it's like a funnier and wittier War and Peace. A book full of people and life and humanity. I have laughed and cried and I can't believe that this book is virtually unknown. I suppose Austro Hungary 100 years ago doesn't interest many people here. But it is the characters and stories which are the great pull! Yes, I loved it but I am a true romantic sucker for castles, duels and doomed love stories.
Here is a good review, which is exactly my opinion too.
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