The House of Barbary

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The House of Barbary by Isabelle Schuler, read by Kristin Atherton.

Beatrice has been lied to her whole life.

Beatrice Barbary has been raised to believe that while education will set her mind free, there are some questions better left unanswered.

Her life is in disarray.

But when her father, one of the most powerful men in Bern, is brutally murdered in their own home, she is left reeling, unprotected and vulnerable.

Her future uncertain.

Plunging head first into the mysteries surrounding her father and her own upbringing, Beatrice discovers The Order of St. Eve and the violent secrets they have been hiding her entire life.

It's time for her to take control.

Will she be able to right the wrongs of her father, or will the Order silence her first?

Set in a city at breaking point, Beatrice's story toes the dangerously thin line between retribution and revenge, and the choice we must make when confronted by evil.

Critics Review

A novel of exceptional vigour and originality
Sunday Times, 'the best historical fiction of 2025 - so far'
A fierce, feminist retelling of the French Folklore, Bluebeard . . . After years of researching seventeenth-century Bern, Isabelle has created a story that is historically adjacent to the period and place. She has intertwined fact and fiction to bring us this Early Modern historical fiction of mystery and vengeance
Gazette & Herald
It is inspired distantly by the Bluebeard legend, but ‘outcreeps’ Angela Carter’s retelling of that famous myth. One of the most original books I have read in a long time
Historical Novels Review, Issue 111 (February 2025)
If you crossed The Miniaturist with Promising Young Woman, you'd get The House of Barbary . . . a blazing feminist roar of a novel set in c17th Bern. Twists abound in this gripping tale: it's a thrilling, visceral follow-up to the very brilliant Lady MacBethad’
Naomi Kelsey
A raw, visceral tale, Shakespearean in scope, that presents the difficult choices that await a young girl when she discovers the evil she has inherited along with her wealth. Set in seventeenth-century Switzerland, Schuler skilfully weaves a tale of the paradoxes inherent in a supposedly civilised city that maintains a literal bearpit at its centre. If you enjoyed Lady MacBethad, you will be obsessed with Beatrice Barbary
Laura Shepperson
I loved the dark, tangled web of intrigue and the intelligent, fiery Beatrice. As a fan of fairytales, I adored the echoing of Bluebeard and the historical detail brought the period and setting to life with such vivid beauty. A wonderful novel!
Georgia Leighton
Praise for Lady MacBethad: 'Suspenseful, atmospheric and full of twists and turns, I loved the brutal, backstabbing world that Isabelle Schuler conjures up where only the most ruthless can survive
Jennifer Saint
Praise for Lady MacBethad: Isabelle Schuler's Lady MacBethad achieves the unthinkable: transforming Shakespeare's wicked queen into an empathetic heroine'
Laura Shepperson

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