Audiobooks by Shelley Puhak

The Blood Countess: A Tale of Deception, Disinformation, and History’s Deadliest Woman

THE BLOOD COUNTESS is an ambitious, sweeping investigation into the singularly fascinating case of Elizabeth Báthory, a woman who, until now, has been known as 'the Western World’s most prolific female murderer.” If The Dark Queens is about the systemic erasure of powerful women, then THE BLOOD COUNTESS is about the culturally sanctioned, coordinated smearing of one, how it happens and why, which leads to even bigger questions: how do we construct our personal and cultural realities? How do we parse the truth? THE BLOOD COUNTESS will, of course, appeal to the same readers who fell in love with The Dark Queens, but it will undoubtedly bring in fresh audiences: true crime aficionados, lovers of legal sagas, fans of the Elizabethan era, readers already aware of the Báthory legend, etc. It is the sort of undeniably juicy, complex narrative that will have both academic circles and book clubs arguing for days, as it does what the best historical non-fiction does: holds up a mirror so we can see our own time more clearly, all while still being a wild, entertaining ride.

Shelley Puhak (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World

A vivid double biography of two fearless Early Medieval queens, and an enthralling journey of discovery across the unfamiliar and blood-soaked historical landscape of sixth-century Merovingian France. 'Brings the Merovingian empire to thrilling, bewildering, horrifying life' Helen Castor 'Restores two half-forgotten and much-mythologized queens to their proper place in medieval history' Dan Jones 'A story of scheming and savagery to make Game of Thrones look tame' Sarah Gristwood 'A remarkable piece of detective work, by turns enlightening and shocking' Amanda Foreman Brunhild was a Visigothic princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe. The two queens commanded armies, developed taxation policies, established infrastructure and negotiated with emperors and popes, all the time fighting a gruelling forty-year civil war with each other. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegund's deaths, their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend. From the tangled primary evidence of Merovingian sources - the works of the chronicler Gregory of Tours and the Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus - award-winning writer Shelley Puhak weaves a gripping and intricate tale, its characters driven by ambition, lust and jealousy to acts of treachery and murderous violence. The Dark Queens resurrects these two women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of a shadowy era and dispelling some of the stubbornest myths about female power. 2022 Head of Zeus

Shelley Puhak (Author), Antonia Beamish (Narrator)

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