The Historian (Paperback)

Three generations search for Dracula's resting place, and their stories are nested within each other, so that we know that at least two quests ended badly. Kostova rations her thrills very carefully so that we jump out of our chair at quite slight surprises, especially when we have come to expect buckets of blood and loud bangs. She also has a profound and well-communicated sense of place and period, so that the book is equally at home in 1930s Rumania, Cold War Budapest and 1970s Oxford. Kostova is particularly good on the sights and sounds of remote country places and the taste of real peasant food--this sensuous realism does not always go with her other skill, the creation of imagined documents and folksongs that feel as real and true as what might be actual.

This is a quietly good book rather than a spectacular debut, with some uncomfortable twists in its tail; her heroine-narrators are, and perhaps remain, in the most serious of jeopardies. ---Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'A spirited update of Bram Stoker's classic, with a vastly ingenious plot in which Dracula has developed a mysterious penchant for librarians ... Kostova is a whiz at storytelling and narrative pace' Observer 'Told with a compelling intensity which will keep the reader hooked until the last Undead tomb door swings shut' Sunday Telegraph 'Filled with fascinating details of archaic vampire lore, the splendours of the Ottoman Empire and the beauty of Romania' TLS ‘This literary thriller is a page-turner with brains' Daily Mail ‘The Historian amounts to something profound... and wondrously mathematical at times, a genre novel by Bach ... We encounter obsession, possession, and the struggle against the brevity of life. It is an exploration of the eternal desire for intimacy...Kostova captures, beautifully, the turn on a dime from light to dark' The Times ‘The Historian is great fun... told with a compelling intensity which will keep the reader hooked until the last Undead tomb door swings shut' Sunday Telegraph ‘A gasp-inducing, breathtakingly dark mystery set in the present but wrapped around the folklore and history of Dracula…written in an exquisitely delicate and reserved style' Good Housekeeping ‘Filled with fascinating details of archaic vampire lore, the splendours of the Ottoman Empire and the beauty of the Romanian countryside' TLS ‘Dracula's back - and alive and well (or at least undead) in Elizabeth Kostova's compelling novel' InStyle ‘Hotly anticipated... This exploration of Dracula from a historical perspective is more cerebral cortex than punctured jugulars and reads all the better for it' Eve ‘A cross between Dracula and The Da Vinci Code' Observer ‘Kostova's research is exemplary... if you're drawn to the gothic in fiction, reading this on hot nights will induce a few shivers' Herald “Elizabeth Kostova is an accomplished debutante who has produced an intriguing and carefully crafted novel". THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW “She weaves myth, fact and adventure in this well-written, creepy time-slip novel that left me wanting to go back to Bram Stoker" NewBOOKS magazine ‘It's the impeccably researched and subtly chilling story of a young woman's search for the truth about her historian father, and his quest to find Vlad himself. It's so refreshing to read genuinely sinister and suspenseful literary horror which does not need to rely on shock tactics' Bookseller ‘Terrific reworking of the Dracula tale... It's gripping stuff and a lovely big read for summer' Bookseller ‘Captivating, cleverly written' New Books Magazine ‘The perfect summer read... Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel has the perfect mix of mystery and adventure and, based as it is around the legend of Dracula, a healthy dose of horror as well. If you take one book on holiday this year, make it the Historian' Waterstone's Books Quarterly The Historian is a marvelous book that draws the reader into an infectious vortex of mystery and discovery. It is beautifully written and full of real and believable characters, but what most impresses me is the way Elizabeth Kostova has taken an old and worn genre and made it entirely fresh and undeniably her own. This is great fiction. - David Liss

See all Product Description

• Books > Fiction > By Period

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
• I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
• I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.