Things are going to change around here (pulls pants up by belt). And by that, I mean I’ll be adding more stuff to all of this! I’m going to start sharing a monthly list of the books that were published that month that I’m most excited to read. I used to do this on Twitter, but not it will go right to your inboxes, like this entry does.
I will send this list at the end of each month, so I’ll be sending these deep dives into specific books more in the middle of the month. Now you’re going to get two emails from me a month! If you think this is too much, please let me know in the comments.
Another important update is that Substack is adding a lot of cool features to its app. It has a Chat function where I post about the book I’ll be focusing on each month. I encourage you all to use that like an online book club. Read the book along with me and share your thoughts in the Chat section!
The other extremely cool new function is Notes. Notes act a lot like Twitter. I’ll be using it to share bookish stuff and will probably start prioritizing it over Twitter. If all of this interests you, get the Substack app and join in the convo!
Sorry this was so much like an ad for Substack. I’m just really annoyed with other social media right now and like the direction this app is going in. Ok, now for what you came here for…
Spoilers ahead for the book. If you care about such things, maybe read the book first and then come back to read this entry after! Content warnings for torture, murder, rape and sexual assault, incest, child murder, ableism, I’m sorry if I’m forgetting any. This is a grade A horror book, so adjust your expectations accordingly.
Fairest Flesh by K.P. Kulski (2020)
I didn’t know too much about Fairest Flesh when I picked it up. I received it as one of the books in my Nightworms subscription box several years back and only knew that it was a reimagining of the life of notorious Countess Elizabeth Báthory. This really intrigued me, because Báthory is sometimes depicted in pop culture as a vampire of sorts. The lore was that she would bathe and consume the blood of young beautiful girls and women to remain young herself. And her family long held power in Transylvania, which would later earn her the very rad nickname ‘Countess Dracula’. Perhaps this would be a good ‘Women Be Eating’ title, I thought.
Alas, this is not a ‘Women Be Eating’ title, but it did still hit some interesting themes! What I didn’t know about this book was that it is also a Snow White retelling. I cannot think of a better mashup…Elizabeth Báthory and Snow White. It’s perfect. Báthory is the evil stepmother, consumed with her desire to be the fairest in the land. She employs a witch who is likewise consumed with beauty because she herself has deformities. There are poisoned apples, a questionable mirror, glass sarcophagi, a huntsman, and many beautiful women sacrificed.
I have not watched the Disney Snow White in so long, but I’m about to hit play and watch as I write.
What it’s about.
Young Erzsébet Báthory is married off to Count Ferenc Nádasdy as a political move during a time when Hungary was experiencing great turmoil. Erzsébet is a very young teen at this point, but she has already committed horrific murder at her father’s home. She sees her marriage as punishment, a way to banish her from her homeland.
Erzsébet travels to the Nádasdy family’s lands with her longtime nursemaid Susanna and Susanna’s brother Ficzkó. While on the road, they pick up a pathetic looking traveler named Dorottya (Dory), an off-putting young woman with physical deformities. Dory is poorly socialized, having been raised by an abusive mother in the woods, but she does possess vast knowledge of herbs and remedies. She is a medicine woman, but they all call her witch. Dory is able to alleviate Erzsébet’s seizures, thus earning her a place with the nobility.
Erzsébet does not receive a warm welcome in her new home. Her betrothed Ferenc is brutal and would rather be on a battlefield or in another woman’s bed. Her mother-in-law is cold and annoyed that they must join with the Báthorys. As Erzsébet’s frustration grows, so does her cruelty.
While Ficzkó begins to grow in Erzsébet’s esteem, Susanna decides she needs to leave. Ficzkó and Erzsébet are dangerously matched, both brutal, cruel, and jealous. Ficzkó is a pedophile and abuser, having forced Susanna into a sexual relationship when they were teenagers, resulting in her birthing a child that quickly died. Ficzkó sees no problem beginning a sexual relationship with young Erzsébet, meanwhile Susanna plots her escape.
As time progresses, Erzsébet eventually recruits Dory and Ficzkó to assist her in her murderous hobby. Ficzkó hunts young beautiful women for Erzsébet, often times raping and abusing them himself before turning them over. Dory creates poisons and tinctures for Erzsébet, including poisoning apples, to enable her agenda.
Dory also grows increasingly cruel and mentally unstable. She hallucinates a devil-like character who lords over her actions. Dancing girls spin in her head. She needs to protect and preserve the beauty in the world, but she does this in twisted and horrific ways.
This pattern of murder and abuse grows over the decades, until two sisters find their way to the castle. Their presence ushers in the glorious downfall of the Countess and her confidants, but the body count is almost too outrageous to be believed.
The book is told through multiple perspectives, some dropping off and new voices being added on as the book progresses.
My thoughts.
“Fairest, fairest, fairest, fairest…
Horrid. Horrid. Horrid to look upon.” p. 47, 49
Are we all Snow White?
I couldn’t help but think about the prevalence of our beauty and wellness industries while reading this. Skincare remedies, the beauty industry, fillers, slugging, Ozempic, Instagram face. The beauty industry is massive and only growing, and the way it gains power is by inflicting pain (physical, emotional, mental) on its targets. Beauty is pain, someone said once.
Like our Countess, the beauty and wellness industries have body counts. These industries contribute drastically to our society’s growing body dysmorphia, which in turns has resulted in suicidal ideation. As Jessica DeFino says in her excellent newsletter about breaking free of beauty culture (linked at the end), you’re going to die someday, no matter how young you look.
Báthory was clearly psychologically ill and most likely derived great sadistic pleasure from brutally torturing and murdering beautiful women. I don’t know enough about her true history to know where the lore of her obsession with beauty came from.
Much of what people think of when they think of Báthory is her bathing in blood to stay young, like certain legends of witches. In Fairest Flesh she is depicted as sadistic and jealous, overly concerned with her beauty and status, but it’s also clear that evil comes easily to her.
The way to keep yourself safe in Erzsébet’s orbit was to be ugly…hideous. One character takes a blade to her face to keep herself safe. This is dark and terrifying, but in a way in today’s era of Instagram and social media, being unconventional might offer a similar freedom. It is undoubtedly healthier to get off the apps, away from beauty culture, away from Erzsébet’s orbit. Don’t look at the evil magic mirror!
I love the use of mirrors in this book. Earlier on, Susanna finds an old, dusty mirror that nearly transfixes her. It feels dangerous and powerful, and it has “To the fairest” etched in the frame. This mirror eventually finds its way to Erzsébet, and there does seem to be a kind of magical power implied within it.
“Underneath, she found a lady’s ivory mirror. The shapes of women danced along the frame, carved swirls echoed their movement as if they sought to escape the surface upon which they were made. p. 45-46
Susanna also finds an old storybook that includes a tale we would recognize as Snow White, and based on what Dory ends up doing by the end of the book I would assume she finds it too. The character of Dory is deeply obsessed with beauty, to the point where she wears the skin of the beautiful women she helps to torture and kill.
“Mirella. Pretty Mirella. Mirella was a peach and, if Dorottya bit into her, she would surely be the same sweet, snow-white flesh beneath. Dorottya wanted just that, to bite, take her into herself, chewing and smacking her lips so the girl would be part of her ugliness.” p. 49
Dory also collects beautiful things and is drawn to mirrors (this reminds me of the Dwarves in Disney’s Snow White, working in the gem mine). Dory adorns her beautiful women with decoration, literally sewing and affixing it to their bodies. She preserves them in amber and displays them in glass sarcophagi in the woods surrounded by walls of mirrors.
“Coffins made of glass. Within each laid a dead girl. Beautiful, pale-fleshed maids, so pale they looked molded from the snow that pillowed them. Bits of ribbon and flowers woven through their hair, breasts with lace sewn into unresponsive flesh, jewels choked from mouths. Pearls dropped like tears from their eyes. Others didn’t have eyes at all, but mirrors.” p. 209
Dory and Erzsébet and two sides of the same coin. Their individual and collective acts of violence enable and sooth one another. Erzsébet does most of the killing, and Dory wears the flesh of the dead girls and uses the corpses to grow the flower needed to make Erzsébet’s seizure medicine (a substance she becomes extremely addicted to).
At the end of the book it is implied that they are more closely connected than they realized. Continuing to compare Fairest Flesh with Disney’s Snow White, Dory is like when the Queen creates her disguise potion to become an old hag, and Erzsébet is the Queen in her preferred (beautiful) state.
There is so much about power, control, and conquest in this book. Even the obsession with beauty comes from a place of control. I see that in our own beauty and wellness culture now. It’s all about control.
My viewing of the Disney Snow White has ended, and I’m actually surprised at how little happens in this movie! I had completely made up an entire act that never occurs! It was still comforting to watch, and I love the animation, so definitely not a bad experience to revisit. Of course, there have been many excellent critiques of the film, but honestly I just enjoy the hit of nostalgia.
Additional Recommendations
If you’re interested in the damaging power of beauty, watch Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, a two-part documentary on Hulu examining the shocking way our culture hyper-sexualized Brooke Shields as a small child and never stopped.
Do you revel in searing take-downs of beauty culture? Subscribe to Jessica DeFino’s newsletter, The Unpublishable. Jessica is smart and ruthless, and her writing helps me keep my priorities right.
Want a fun Snow White retelling? When was the last time you watched Happily Ever After (1989)?
It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but Fairest Flesh reminded me of a book I loved as a kid: The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli. This is a Hansel ans Gretel retelling from the witch’s perspective. The witch is very sympathetic. I need to reread!
Next Month
In May I’ll be doing a list…my summer reading list! These will be mostly recently published books (and coming soon books) that I’d love to try to read this summer. I hope you find something juicy and fun on there to enjoy this summer, too.