The novel The Mysteries from Otočice by Amalija Jelen Mikša takes us back in the time from 1862 to the WWII to the Otočec Castle. The Count Albino Margheri was a heartbreaker, yet his family was no better, upsetting the world with love affairs and scandals. Most notorious among his four daughters were Countess Florentina and Countess Rodriga. Their restrained and deeply religious brother Rudolf was trying very hard to hinder their impropriate liaisons. Florentina, forty-four, fell in love with almost twenty years younger coachman Johan Jordan. Allegedly, Rodriga had a relationship with her eighteen years younger nephew. The novelist excites the reader with her electrifying descriptions of love scenes. However, she also thoroughly describes the places and people who once inhabited the banks of the Krka River.

In order to present the storyline as credibly as possible, the novelist devised the plot with a vivid imagination, yet based on the data from the archives, testimonies, articles from the newspapers of the time. She found great support in Mrs. Vida Jordan, the relative of the handsome coachman Johan. Vida shared precious materials from her personal collection, even the original artifacts from the Otočec Castle, which kindled the author’s curiosity and investigative thirst.