Book Review

I just finished one of the most captivating, suspenseful, creepy-in-a-good-way, spine-tingling, page-turning books!! Wow. I couldn't put it down.

"This is the story of how as a girl of sixteen I went in search of my father and his past, and of how he went in search of his beloved mentor and his mentor's own history, and of how we all found ourselves on one of the darkest pathways into history. It is the story of who survived that search and who did not, and why. As a historian, I have learned that, in fact, not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it. And it is not only reaching back that endangers us; sometimes history itself reaches inexorably forward for us with its shadowy claw."
-- Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian, c2005

There are actually three stories being told (at least! possibly more). One is the narrator's story of finding out pieces of her father's past. Another is the story of her father's past, itself. A third is interwoven throughout, as the story of Draculya.

Yeah. Vampires. Spooky. But lots of history, and the characters travel all throughout Eastern Europe, and the people are intellectual, tragic, curious, courageous, determined, and fascinating. Good, good, good writing.