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From the #1 bestselling author of The Historian comes an engrossing novel that spans the past and the present - and unearths the dark secrets of Bulgaria, a beautiful and haunted country.
A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi - and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression - and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger.
Elizabeth Kostova's new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss.
BookBrowse Review
"The setting and characters are intriguing, but the plot shifts back and forth in time without seeming to have a good reason for doing so which bogs down the action. Also, there's too much unnecessary mystery surrounding Bobby; and Alexandra does not feel fully developed." - Mollie Waters
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. A slight hint of the mystical will appeal to readers who enjoyed Deborah Harkness's 'All Souls' trilogy, while the mystery and thriller aspects will keep fans of Dan Brown and Umberto Eco reading. A fantastic book club pick." - Library Journal
"A compelling and complex mystery, strong storytelling, and lyrical writing combine for an engrossing read set in the former Soviet-bloc nation of Bulgaria." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommend Kostova's latest to readers seeking outstanding and suspenseful historical fiction." - Booklist
"Those who enjoy a deep dive into the complicated lives of people both historical and contemporary will love this book." - School Library Journal
"Kostova's passion and tragic sense of history, along with jewellike character studies, almost make up for the overplotting and repetitiveness as she drums her points home." - Kirkus
"In The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova, a master storyteller, brings vividly to life an unfamiliar country - Bulgaria - and a painful history that feels particularly relevant now. You won't want to put down this remarkable book." - Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs
"In this brilliant work, what appears at first a minor mystery quickly becomes emblematic of a whole country's hidden history. Lyrical and compelling, The Shadow Land proves a profound meditation on how evil is inflicted, endured, and, through courage and compassion, defeated. Elizabeth Kostova's third novel clearly establishes her as one of America's finest writers." - Ron Rash, author of The Risen
"The Shadow Land is thrilling, and not just as a gripping tale. It's also thrilling to watch such a talented writer cast her spell. The central character actually begins this deft novel in an urn, only to emerge as one of the most memorable characters I've encountered in a long time." - Richard Russo, author of Everybody's Fool
"Transporting ... draws us into Bulgarian history and character revelation like an elegant, mysterious labyrinth. Page-turning, evocative, and richly imagined." - Dominic Smith, author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
This information about The Shadow Land was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel 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. The Historian took her ten years to write, and was inspired by the vampire stories told to her by her father, a professor of urban planning, during the year they spent in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia (where her father taught at the university) when she was seven, and as they traveled through Europe.
Her second novel The Swan Thieves was published in 2010.
Author Interview
Link to Elizabeth Kostova's Website
Name Pronunciation
Elizabeth Kostova: kos-TOE-va
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