The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
List Price: $15.99
Pages: 688
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0316154547
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Also available as a Time Warner AudioBook, eBook and Large Print Edition
"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.
Parsing obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions --- ;and evading the unknown adversaries who will go to any lengths to conceal and protect Vlad's ancient powers --- one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions, a relentless tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present, with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful --- and utterly unforgettable.
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1. In the "Note to the Reader," the narrator tells us, "There is a final resource to which I have resorted when necessary--the imagination." How does she use this resource in telling her story? Is it a resource to which the other historians in the book resort, as well?
2. The theme of mentors and disciples is an important one in the book. Who are the story's mentors, and in what sense is each a mentor? Who are the book's disciples?
3. Near the end of Chapter 4, Rossi says, "Human history's full of evil deeds, and maybe we ought to think of them with tears, not fascination." Does he follow his own advice? How does his attitude toward history evolve in the course of his own story?
4. In Chapter 5, Paul's friend Massimo asserts that in history, there are no small questions. What does he mean by this and how does this idea inform the book? Do you agree with his statement?
5. Helen and Paul come from very different worlds, although they share a passion for history. How have their upbringings differed? What factors have shaped each?
6. Throughout the book, anyone who finds an antique book with a dragon in the middle is exposed to some kind of danger. What does this danger consist of? Is it an external power, or do the characters bring it upon themselves?
7. Each of the characters is aware of some of the history being made in his or her own times. What are some of these real historical events, and why are they important to the story?
8. At the beginning of Chapter 1, Paul's daughter notes, "I had been raised in a world so sheltered that it makes my adult life in academia look positively adventurous." How does she change as a person in the course of her quest?
9. Helen's history is deeply intertwined with that of Dracula. In what ways are the two characters connected? Does she triumph over his legacy, or not?
10. In Chapter 73, Dracula states his credo: "History has taught us that the nature of man is evil, sublimely so." Do the characters and events of the novel prove or disprove this belief?
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"The Historian is a marvelous book that draws the reader into an infectious vortex of mystery and discovery. It is beautifully written and full of real and believable characters, but what most impresses me is the way Elizabeth Kostova has taken an old and worn genre and made it entirely fresh and undeniably her own. This is great fiction."
—David Liss, author of A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption
"A thoroughly impressive and entertaining debut, epic in its scope, deeply human in its concerns"
—George Saunders, author of Civilwarland in Bad Decline and Pastoralia
"The Historian is the first Dracula novel to focus on the bloodlines of Vlad Dracula's descendants--not just the bloody trail the vampire left behind. Elizabeth Kostova's stunning debut gives us a multi-layered insider's look at 500 years of eastern European history."
—Katherine Neville, author of The Eight
"Exotic locales, tantalizing history, a family legacy and a love of the bloodthirsty: it's hard to imagine that readers won't be bitten, too."
—Publishers' Weekly (starred review)
"Anne Rice, beware. There's a new Queen of the night in town, and she's taking no prisoners."
—Kirkus (starred review)
"Kostova may have outdone Stoker or even, for that matter, Hollywood.... Before the sun sets, grab this book and take a long and satisfying drink."
—USA Today
"Stuffed with rich, incense-laden history cultural history and travelogue...a smart, bibliophilic mystery."
—TIME Magazine
"Blending history and myth, Kostova has fashioned a version of [the Dracula story] so fresh that when a stake is finally driven through the heart, it inspires the tragic shock of something happening for the very first time."
—Newsweek
"The season's must-read novel...think THE DA VINCI CODE with brains... bloody good!"
—Rolling Stone
"Artfully constructed and atmospheric..."
—Washington Post Book World
"For the sophisticated reader it's a fine Bordeaux to Dan Brown's overcaffeinated Diet Coke."
—Salon.com
"Kostova's thorough research and lively narrative will compel many in search of a good story, richly told and not soon forgotten."
—Chicago Tribune
"A natural storyteller [ Kostova provides]... much to savor in this intricately plotted, delicately written novel."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"A masterly bouillabaisse of scholarship, history, anthropology, folklore and superstition...a blockbuster... impossible to put down."
—Denver Post
"A tale that deserves to be savored."
—New York Daily News
"Kostova has a keen sense of storytelling and she has a marvelous tale to tell. One terrific and fascinating read..."
—Baltimore Sun
"Exceptionally well-written, with a particularly fine eye for descriptive detail... all the ingredients to catapult her into the public eye and Da Vinci Code-like sales success...."
—Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
