The Historian Novel ☑️ Recommended
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Review
Although this book is quite long and slow at times, I really think that it is worth taking the time to read it. If you like historical novels and paranormal tales then you’ll really like this book. It offers a new take on the idea of Dracula that is refreshing, intelligent and very realistic/believable. It took me a while to get through it; it’s definitely a thinking kind of novel, not pulpy or quick to get through at all, but enjoyable all the same. The description is excellent and really shows Kostova’s extensive research and expertise with regards to her locations and time periods. Her historical accounts seem accurate and make sense as they are embedded and intertwined with her story.
I definitely made a connection to the characters. Not only are there dark and suspenseful elements to this story but romance as well. It is very well-rounded in a way that would appeal to a variety of reader preferences. I really enjoyed this novel and think that it would make a great comparative companion to Dracula by Bram Stoker. It would be a great choice for a reading club not only because there are discussion questions at the end but because there is simply a lot to discuss.
Summary
To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history....Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge 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 inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.
The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive. What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler's dark reign and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.
ISBN-10 : 9780316070638
ISBN-13 : 978-0316070638
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: June 1, 2005
720 pages
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