The Historian

Critical Praise

"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