If You Liked The Da Vinci Code, You'll Love The Historian

Did you ever read a book that you were enjoying so much that you did not want it to end? I am about halfway through this book, in complete suspense, but I don't want to keep reading because then the book will end, and I will be sad.

This is a story about the history of and search for Vlad the Impaler - Dracula to you. Vlad the Imapaler was a Fifteenth Century count in Eastern Europe. He was given to the Mongols by his own father as ransom in exchange for them leaving Wallachia intact. Vlad's father was nicknamed Dracul, meaning Dragon, and Vlad became nicknamed Dracula, meaning son of the dragon. Having escaped his captors, he is most famously known in history for his practice of impaling his enemies on stakes and leaving them for public display. This became the fate of thousands of his enemies and many of his own countrymen.

Dracula has also been made famous (or notorious) in contemporary times by the book of the same title written by Bram Stoker, and many Hollywood films. These primarily focus on the myth that Dracula was a vampire. -- a creature of the living dead who must seek sustenance in the form of fresh human blood. Once bitten, a victim becomes infected with the disease, and if bitten three times becomes a vampire as well. Vampires live eternally unless caught in daylight, or staked through the heart as it lies sleeping in its casket. Silver bullets are also rumored to be effective. Vampire repellents exist in the form of crucifixes, holy water, and garlic to name a few.

This story essentially takes place in four different eras -- so far (I'm only halfway through the book). First is the era of the storyteller - 2008. I don't know why she chose that year instead of 2005. I'm sure there is a good reason, I just haven't gotten that far yet.

The second era is the early seventies, when the storyteller is a sixteen year old girl, and is hearing the story told by her father of how he learned about Dracula.

The third is the 1940s while her dad is at college hearing the story of how his professor/mentor learned of Dracula.

And the fourth is the early 1930s when the professor learned of Dracula.

In each case the person mysteriously receives an old leather bound book with a single image in the center pages of a winged dragon with the name Dracula printed underneath. The book is also accompanied by a letter which begins with: "My Dear and Unfortunate Reader." The reader then become compelled to search out the history of Dracula picking up where the letter writer left off. Within a very short time each begins to experience odd things including deaths of friends and acquaintances, and disappearances of people they've come in contact with. It is dark, mysterious, and the tale is told exquisitely. This book is a page turner and I will not give more of it away.

This is the author's first book and it took her ten years to write it. It is rich in the history and culture of Hungary and Romania where Transyvania and Wallachia exist - the homeland of Dracula. A lot of the action also takes place in Istanbul, Oxford College, and other parts of Europe.

On a side note, Elizabeth Kostova is a good friend of my wife's sister, and both my wife and sister-in-law have traveled with this woman to New York for a reading of parts of her book at the Lincoln Center. As I mentioned this is Elizabeth's first book, and she was given an immediate $2 million advance from her publishers, and has also signed a movie deal. The book is already in its fourth printing, and is being published in fifteen languages. I have an autographed first edition - well actually it was given by Ms. Kostova to my wife. The book is currently number two on the NY Times Best Seller List.

Go buy it.