Elizabeth Kostova The Historian

I picked up The Historian in a charity shop for a bargain of 75p and had never heard of the author, Elizabeth Kostova, before so worth a punt.

I love Bram Stoker's Dracula and hoped that this wasn't simply a rehash of the story and I wasn't disappointed. It took a while to get into the story but the lovingly way that Kostova describes cities and architecture conjured up images in my mind. Like a mixture of fiction and biography with lots of historical references, this book will not be for everyone, but for those of us who like realistic historical detail then I recommend this book.

The journey from West to East through Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and other magically countries made me want to visit them and see the splendour for myself. It really opened up the idea of holidays in the former Communist Eastern Bloc. Perfect for daydreaming on the train journey home.

Elizabeth Kostova The Historian: As a lifelong fan of the Dracula stories - beginning with my first viewing of Murnau's "Nosferatu" as a student of film criticism and history in the 1960's and my earlier reading of Bram Stoker's famous work, I have sought out and thrived on the various tales, tellings and permutations of this wonderful/terrible story. Up and through Anne Rice, Bela Lugosi and the sad Hollywood sexualization of the vampire. That of the historical figure, Vlad "The Impaler" Teps, also of interest as a point of 'reality reference' has also been a subject of interest to me.

Consequently, I was excited to read the pre-release comments about this book - expecting that, at last, someone had taken the time to tie both stories - the history and the fiction - together.

After forcing myself through 300 pages (289 to be precise), I have done something I have done only once before in my life. I have closed it and returned it to the shelf unfinished.

Verbose is an understatement.

The First Act goes on forever - and the 'tension' one expects to build up in well written fiction simply doesn't.

Sadly, a waste of time that I wish I could retreive the wasted hours I spent with.

The Historian

Elizabeth Kostova

In 1972, the sixteen year old American has lived in Amsterdam as the daughter of a widowed diplomat so long she cannot remember much of her time in the United States. While in her father's library, the teen finds an ancient tome that contains no writing only a disturbingly menacing looking picture of a dragon and the word "Drakulya". However, numerous letters from 1930 are also inside with the enigmatic salutation: "My dear and unfortunate successor".

The daughter asks her father what this all means. Despondent he explains what he knows and how he "inherited" the book and the related terrifying quest from his former adviser at Oxford, who became convinced that Drakulya lives, but vanished soon afterward. He picked up the mantle risking ridicule, but though he has made progress, he fears that the search for Drakulya will be what he bequests his beloved daughter. Still he tells her to concentrate on school and forget his obsession. She cannot as the book has hooked her as it has done others including her dad; the daughter begins her research into the living legend of Drakulya.

THE HISTORIAN is a terrific suspense thriller that grips the audience when the naive narrator picks up the quest over the objection yet expectation of her father. The story line takes the audience across Europe as the teen investigates Drakulya, what happened to the history professor, and related sidebars as she follows the mantra that the truth is out there. Fans will accompany her every twisted step of the way wondering what is at the end of this darkened rainbow. Like the book within the book, THE HISTORIAN grips the audience from the start causing some sleepless nights.

Little, Brown, Jun 2005, $25.95, 656 pp.

ISBN: 0316011770

Harriet Klausner