The Historian
Elizabeth Kostova
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2005 Little, Brown & Co.
ISBN: 0316011770

In Amsterdam in 1972 a teenager discovers a book & letters about Dracula in her father's library.

The pages of the medieval book are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressed to: “My dear and unfortunate successor”. When the girl confronts her father, he confesses they are about Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century, & that he is still alive.

Sr. Associate Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

The best book I have read in long, long time, & is sure to be one of the classics in contemporary literary genre (in this case the historical fiction genre) of this decade.

Once in a while you get to read a gem of a book -- a book, the standard of which will create new heights for the literary genre. Harry Potter has now set the tone for children’s literature; James Patterson is the synonym for psychological suspense; John Grisham for legal thrillers & Stephen King for horror fiction. With her debut work The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova becomes the new phenomenon in the historical thriller genre.

The novel starts with a girl stumbling upon some letters in her father’s library. When accosted her father only says that the truth in the letters will reveal to her the truth of her father, her dead mother, & some other unpleasant facts. As the lady reads the letters, she is shocked to realize she's found some priceless information -- the truth behind the myth/legend of Dracula. What happened to him, & more importantly, is he still alive? What follows is a rollercoaster into the labyrinths of Istanbul & its ancient libraries; monasteries & tombs -- & the quest for the true identity of Vlad the Impaler (the person on whom Bram Stoker based his creation).

As well as numerous settings, both in & out of the East Bloc, The Historian has three basic story lines which criss-cross mirroring the political upheaval that shaped Dracula's beleaguered homeland -- Wallachia -- the battles between the Byzantine & Ottoman Empires, the local tribes, & the Eastern Orthodox Church, until a new conqueror takes over -- the Soviet Union.

The journey they undertake; the tension, the sheer joy of tracing the truth from the annals of history is succinctly narrated in vivid detail. The thrill & “go for it” feeling, like the one we got while reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is like-felt in The Historian. At 650 pages, it seems lengthy except once you start, it's simply unput-downable. I, for one, will surely reread this book, & I'm sure many among you will do the same. Looking forward to more from Elizabeth Kostova.

A real masterpiece, superb -- 8 teapots at least!
(11/06/05)

Narayan
2005©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org