The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. In those few quiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover is her birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the Dracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, and evading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable.
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. 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'
Elizabeth Kostova graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780316730303 |
| ISBN 10 | 0316730300 |
| Title | The Historian |
| Author | Elizabeth Kostova |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown & Company |
| Year published | 2005-06-30 |
| Number of pages | 656 |
| Prizes | Commended for Richard & Judy Book Club: Summer Read 2006, Short-listed for British Book Awards: Newcomer of the Year 2006 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |