The Historian

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Reviewed by Claudine

Having read Bram Stoker’s Dracula some 10 years back, I eagerly picked up her book in anticipation of the same chills and thrills in the former and it certainly wasn’t a let down.

I would probably describe this book as a thriller-horror-romance-travel story in rich historical and geographical settings. The story begins with a young woman’s discovery of an old book with a ‘great woodcut of a dragon with spread wings and a long looped tail, a beast unfurled, claws outstretched’. On the banner above the dragon ran a single word in Gothic lettering – DRAKULYA. Her father, having been asked about it, then goes on to reveal the origin of this cursed book and the story picks up from there.

You have got the thrills in the form of a breathtaking race against time to locate the resting place of the elusive Dracula. You face the horror of the characters who literally battle with the undead or become the victims of the undead, who interestingly are usually librarians or who are often conjured up in libraries or who unfortunately work in the libraries, especially in the archives section. The romance comes in the love which blossoms between the young woman’s parents in their youth, brought together by their quest for Dracula. Many parts of the story are centred in various countries and Kostova invokes the physical and cultural atmosphere of each location beautifully so you get a sense of not only traveling across geographical borders but also historically across time as her father narrates the past events which led to the current circumstances and goes in search once again for Dracula to stamp out his legacy of evil permanently.

If you are the type who enjoys Dan Brown’s or Sandra Brown’s kind of Hollywood-fast-paced action writing aka light appetizer fare, you might be overwhelmed by the detailed writing and chunky paragraphs, not unlike a meaty main course. You will need time to chew on the details, piece the clues together before you get on to the final leg of the chase but it is worth the effort, time and inevitably, some brain work.

Definitely a good read.