Audiobook by Vlastimil Vondruška House of Lost Souls
The daughter of the alchemist Giovanni da Ponte has it easy compared to today's girls. The prejudices of the time predestine her to the role of a future wife, mother and protector of the family hearth. The emancipated girl is not going to accept this and with the understanding support of her father she trains in his trade. However, this must be done in all secrecy, and so Fiorella moves around the alchemist's workshop and through the streets of Rudolfinum Prague in a male disguise.
Two inseparable friends, Martin, a schoolboy, and Luke, an apprentice silversmith, recognize her as Rafaela, and although her true identity is revealed, they become inseparable friends when they track down the thief of the town hall silver and free Martin's unjustly suspected father from prison. Since then, a lot of water has flowed in the Vltava under the city walls and our friends have successfully solved three tangled criminal cases. They were helped not only by her wit and courage, but also by Fiorella's alchemical feats and diplomatic talent, which even won her the favour of the otherwise moody Emperor Rudolf. After the last case, in which the young friends ventured far beyond the city walls and overcame their fear of vampires and the prison of the cruel Inquisition, they recruit the plain-spoken and charming cellar girl Lucia from the Golden Cones Inn to join their Brotherhood of the Crystal. It is she who leads them on the trail of a new mystery involving her family. Her uncle, the wealthy merchant Hanuš, bought the house U Bezhlavého kohouta in Prague. But strange things are happening in the house. It is haunted, and the new tenants are terrified by the souls of the previous ones, who without the last rites did not receive salvation. The friends of the Crystal Brotherhood refuse to believe such tales. No sooner do they start investigating than several murders occur in their vicinity and Fiorella's father is accused of one of them. In the hunt for the real culprits, the listeners of the audiobook with the Brotherhood of the Crystal will run through the unpleasant alleys of the castle, get stuck in the dark cellar under the Old Town Square and in Caletná Street they will smell the tempting aroma of the first Prague gingerbread - calettes. And apart from the adventurous moments, they will also learn the surprising lesson that already in the Red Lothian era, organised crime on an international level was rampant in Prague.
