The Historian

Elizabeth Kostova

Jun 2005 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

The record-breaking phenomenon from Elizabeth Kostova is a celebrated masterpiece that "refashioned the vampire myth into a compelling contemporary novel, a late-night page-turner" (San Francisco Chronicle). 

Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family’s past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe—in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world.

“Part thriller, part history, part romance...Kostova has a keen sense of storytelling and she has a marvelous tale to tell.” —Baltimore Sun

Ratings and reviews

This would have been a great story if it had been done by a better writer/story teller. For most of the book, the author seemed to be focused on just filling pages, much like a student required to fill a certain number of pages for a report/essay. A whole lot of useless words and filler which served to not only distract from the story, but to almost bury it.

Took a minute for me to get into the story but once I did I couldn't put it down. The actual prose is also so beautiful at times I find myself reading the same passage over a couple times before moving on. Definitely recommend

Beginning was better than towards the end; slow middle, but overall a uniquely told story. As a father of two daughters, I'm partial to the travels with his daughter

About the author

Elizabeth Kostova is the author of the international bestseller The Historian. She graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.