The Historian
buy bestselling books in print, audio books
|
 |
List Price: $25.95
Our Price:
You Save: $0
Features
• Bargain Price |
| [ + Zoom ] [ Buy Now ] |
Book : This item is currently not available. |
|
|
The Historian description
If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cache of yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of the 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 reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out to concern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search was a fellow student named Helen Rossi (the unacknowledged daughter of his mentor) and our narrator's long-dead mother, about whom she knows almost nothing. And then her father, leaving just a note, disappears also. As well as numerous settings, both in and out of the East Bloc, Kostova has three basic story lines to keep straight--one from 1930, when Professor Bartolomew Rossi begins his dangerous research into Dracula, one from 1950, when Professor Rossi's student Paul takes up the scent, and the main narrative from 1972. The criss-crossing story lines mirror the political advances, retreats, triumphs, and losses that shaped Dracula's beleaguered homeland--sometimes with the Byzantines on top, sometimes the Ottomans, sometimes the rag-tag local tribes, or the Orthodox church, and sometimes a fresh conqueror like the Soviet Union. Although the book is appropriately suspenseful and a delight to read--even the minor characters are distinctive and vividly seen--its most powerful moments are those that describe real horrors. Our narrator recalls that after reading descriptions of Vlad burning young boys or impaling "a large family," she tried to forget the words: "For all his attention to my historical education, my father had neglected to tell me this: history's terrible moments were real. I understand now, decades later, that he could never have told me. Only history itself can convince you of such a truth." The reader, although given a satisfying ending, gets a strong enough dose of European history to temper the usual comforts of the closing words. --Regina Marler |
|
The Historian Customer Reviews
|
|
|
|
♥♥♥♥♥
|
Chilling, Thrilling, and Just Plain Fun Reading
|
An astonishing debut novel for its mystery, creativity, suspense, complexity of plot and unique characterizaions, the author keeps the reader guessing as clues are revealed about the mysterious disappearance of Professor Bartolomew Rossi from Oxford University. The author builds interest and intrigue throughout the story, holding the reader on the edge of his or her seat. Dr. Rossi is believed to have been murdered but there is no evidence or proof of this. It is theorized he was kidnapped but again, there is no ransom note. It is hoped by those who care that he is still alive but as time marches on, no one hears from this famous and well regarded college professor. His graduate student Paul was given letters and a book which reveals a mystery, a dark and sinister event which Dr. Rossi was researching. After becoming a successful college educator and later a diplomat, Dr. Rossi's former student becomes the founder of the Center for Peace and Democracy, head quartered in Amsterdam. He travels around the world in this capacity, lecturing and holding to the firm hope that his mentor, colleague and friend, Dr. Bartolomew Rossi is still alive. Paul takes his sixteen year old daughter to France and Romania following up on research clues left by the professor. His daughter is aware that her father seems preoccupied, almost haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his friend. He is quiet and secretive about the contents of the letters and book which Dr. Rossi left behind for her dad. At a library in Oxford University, the former student met someone who cared as much, perhaps more about Dr. Rossi's disappearance than himself. She turned out to be his daughter, Helen Rossi. It is the daughter Dr. Rossi did not know he had. She was researching the same dark secrets which Paul had discovered.
Paul and Helen Rossi traveled throughout Central Europe and the Balkans to places Dr. Rossi had visited, researching clues the professor had written about in his letters. The travels included a monastery in France and castles in Romania. They visited Orthodox shrines and monasteries in Bulgaria and even attended a conference in Budapest, Hungary in the early 1970s. The trail led them to Istanbul, Turkey where they unexpectedly met a Turkish professor at a cafe who shared an interest in the same dark forces which they were exploring. In each location, newer dark, hidden secrets were being revealed. The author accurately portrays the Communist regime and secret police tactics in the novel. She does a superb job of describing what life was like living under Communism in Hungary and Bulgaria. Her ability to weave creepy clues and vampire lore into the story is done with elegance and skill. Her understanding of the cultures of Central Europe and the Balkans is most impressive. How she incorporated the Ottoman Empire and the history of its reign throughout Europe is most excellent. It is a great reading adventure to follow the clues and explorations of this former student and professor's daughter on their quest to find her father. Discovering the secret behind his disappearnce is worth reading for one's self. Anyone who loves a good creepy mystery story will loves this book. Despite it being almost 650 pages, the book is fascinating and never dull or redundant. In my opinion, the author does a superb gradual build-up of clues which culminates in some very exciting climactic moments. The entire book is very enjoyable and entertaining for those who love reading about vampires. Everyone will be furiously reading, waiting for the next chilling moment to reveal another astonishing dark secret. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
|
|
The Historian Books In Print, Audio Books.