The bloodletter's daughter - Linda Lafferty

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.