17th century. The Venetian navigator Pier Ugo Mameli is hired by the mysterious Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory to recover a chest lost in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. But he cannot transport it overland: he can only do so by sea, which forces Mameli to devise a complicated route to reach his destination.

However, at one of the ports where his ship docks, Captain Mameli allows a group of seemingly defenceless women to board. These young women, members of the Nordic aristocracy, begin to reveal their true intentions, terrorising the crew. Macabre and strange deaths occur on board, prompting the captain to examine the contents of the chest. Inside, he discovers a mystery that will change the course of his voyage and his loyalty to his client.

He then sets out in search of The Threshold of the Forest, an ancient book hidden in the remote, frozen lands of Scandinavia, which has ushered in the ‘Night of Four Hundred Years’ and curses the kingdom of Norway, leading to the sudden extinction of its kings. The book also lays bare the ancient myth of the drävulia.

A story marked by bloodshed, deceit and forbidden love, sealed by death.

A worthy descendant of the Alexandre Dumas tradition. Página 12

Patricio Sturlese is a dazzling storyteller. Bogyn.dk, Denmark

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