Synopsis
The specter of the supernatural infuses this academic thriller, the debut of author Elizabeth Kostova. In 1972 Amsterdam, a sheltered, motherless teenager stumbles across an ancient book imprinted with a dragon and stuffed with 40-year-old, mysteriously addressed letters. Gradually, her father reveals the link between the book and various attempts to discover the tomb of the brutal warrior/ruler Vlad Tepes, better known as Dracula. Those who choose to become part of the search generally end up paying with their careers and their lives. Despite (or perhaps because of) these dire warnings, the nameless young woman finds herself compelled to discover who Dracula truly was...and whether he still exists today.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2005-06-14 |
| Size | | Length: | 642 pages | | Height: | 9.3 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 2.0 in | | Weight: | 31.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Discovering a medieval book and a cache of letters, a motherless American girl becomes the latest in a series of historians, including her late father, who investigates the possible surviving legacy of Vlad the Impaler, a quest that takes her across Europe and into the pasts of her father and his mentor. A first novel.
Industry Reviews
"Along with all the fascinating historical information, there's also a mounting casualty count, and the big showdown amps up the drama by pulling at the heartstrings at the same time it revels in the grotesque. Exotic locales, tantalizing history, a family legacy and a love of the bloodthirsty: it's hard to imagine that readers won't be bitten, too." (starred review)
Publishers Weekly (04/11/2005)
"Anne Rice, beware. There's a new Queen of the Night in town, and she's taking no prisoners." (starred review)
Kirkus (05/01/2005)
"[T]he chill factor is severe from start to finish....[S]trikingly fresh and unformulaic, and considering how many times we've traveled through the Borgo Pass to Castle Dracula, that's saying a lot."
Newsweek - Malcolm Jones (06/13/2005)
"Stuffed with rich, incense-laden cultural history and travelogue, THE HISTORIAN is a smart, biblophilic mystery in the same vein (sorry) as A.S. Byatt's POSSESSION--but without all that poetry."
Time - Lev Grossman (06/20/2005)
"[A] smart retelling of the Dracula story."
New Yorker (06/27/2005)
"[A] hypnotic yarn, saturated in authentic history and eerie intrigue....[F]or the sophisticated reader it's a fine Bordeaux to Dan Brown's overcaffeinated Diet Coke."
Salon - Laura Miller (06/06/2005)
"[A]n imaginative, wholly absorbing take on central European vampire legends guaranteed to hijack your time until you turn the last page."
Ruminator Review
"[A]n enjoyably rambling Gothic novel, one filled with fascinating details of archaic vampire lore, the splendours of the Ottoman Empire and the beauty of the Romanian countryside."
Times Literary Supplement - Helen Gordon (07/22/2005)
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