The Historian is a novel which transcends both time and place. It is the story of 16 year old girl, living in Amsterdam in 1972, who stumbles upon an envelope of her fathers containing some very dangerous information. The envelope holds a mysterious and ancient book which is primarily blank but has a large woodcut of a dragon in the center of it and the word Drakulya. Along with this book she finds a series of letters written in 1930 addressed to ”My dear and unfortunate successor” which detail one mans harrowing experience in trying to get to the bottom of this mysterious book. This discovery is the back bone for a novel which traces the historical account of the burial of Vlad Tepes also known as Vlad the Impaler or Dracula. This historical account is uncovered through a series of mysterious encounters and lots of harrowing adventures involving vampires, secret police, communism and much more. The narrative trades off between three different generations and time periods as we see the story told in part by this young girl, but also in part by her father, and in part by her fathers former professor. These three accounts lead up to a final and dramatic conclusion as they all begin to understand who Dracula really is and perhaps more importantly where he is. This novel is a wonderful mix of history, lore, myth, and storytelling. Kostova paints a very vivid picture of the stunning landscapes and cities of Easter Europe which is the setting for much of the book. In the end this is a thrilling, exciting, and romantic story by an author who has a great sense of storytelling and history.
I really loved this book. The story was incredible and it drew me in from the very first few pages. The story was exciting and suspenseful straight through, but it was also interesting because we get to see how these historians went about there craft, trying to track down these facts needed to solve the mystery. While this book is an adult title I would highly recommend it to teens. Most of the main characters, at the time of their primary narrative, are between the ages of 16 and 25 or so making them accessible characters to a young adult. This book is great for anyone who likes horror, suspense, mystery, fantasy, or history. I can not seem to rave enough about this book.
