Putting away childish tales of dark mythology: Twentieth Century History has darker shadows

Once I had let go of my expectations and the still resonant allure of Kostova’s first novel, The Historian, I surrendered totally to a tale far darker, and far more needing-to-be-told, a warning note echoing beyond the pages of fiction

I started this, given the setting, and the publisher blurb : “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” with an erroneous assumption that those ‘dark secrets’ would be, like The Historian, some of the ones from myth and long ago times. Particularly as, deliberately or not, there are a few hints and reminders which might indicate that we could be in Undead territory. Instead, what unfolds is something far more serious, far more potent, far more relevant, reminding us that tales of myth, magic and legend may perhaps be curious and safe entertainment, fantasy horrors, protecting us from the real horrors which we visit on each other in the name of ideology

Set in the first decade of this century, Alexandra Boyd, a young American woman with the desire to be a writer, and with a tragedy in her own past, arrives in Bulgaria, a country with a personal resonance from her childhood, in order to take up a teaching/study assignment.

Boyd has an accidental tangle with a charismatic older man and his two elderly companions, on her first arrival. In seeking to help the elderly couple, clearly in some difficulty, get a taxi, and help the three to load their various bags into the taxi, Boyd finds to her horror that she seems to have mixed up one of their bags, with her own. In a strange country, without knowing the language, she does not quite know what to do, how to find the threesome, how best to get the missing luggage back to them. Although clearly a kindly young woman, she is also mesmerised by the English speaking man accompanying the elderly couple, so this fires her desire to find the trio and return the missing item, one which is unusual, and highly significant.

Boyd engages a waiting taxi driver, a rather mysterious one, who not only speaks English, but is curiously willing to help her………….

And thus unfolds a mystery, where nothing is going to be quite what it seems (including this reader’s assumptions about ‘Bulgaria’s dark secrets’ The twentieth century, unfortunately, is full of dark secrets, most around politics, systems, ideologies and regimes: the pursuit of power and the lengths some will go to achieve it.

Having started this in the hope of some kind of intelligent, beautifully written page turner about mythic, medieval history, and a modern woman on a search for a legendary, imaginative past, to help distract me from the present, I found instead something which made me wonder more about a future I hope we are not travelling towards, with various unprincipled, ferociously egotistic men occupying political power at this time.

I found, for sure, an intelligent, beautifully written page turner about all too real history: the shadow of the last war, the shadow of the communist bloc, and some of those who moved into power (and where from) after the Berlin wall came down.

There is a lot in here which recounts that horrific history, as Kostova pursues a tale which is at times in two times – the early fifties, and the first decade of the twentyfirst century. It is excellently done, and even though the story takes a little while to get its real momentum going, it is quietly gripping from the start – and then relentlessly gripping. There are some real surprises too. Nor is the story unremittingly dark. As ever, human heart, the kindness within, and the various redemptive paths humankind take to try and walk away from our shadows, is a kind of compass to true North. And art is one of those needles for true North – music, visual art, literature, poetry especially – a search for transcendence and life of the spirit.

And, in the end, I think Kostova has here, written something more powerful.

A gripping read! A fascinating story about a country I know little of. The setting was vividly described and the characters were fascinating.

The book started well and promised a fast paced adventure. However, as the story progressed the pace slowed considerably and was a struggle to finish. I was disappointed as I had enjoyed her previous work.

This book is one of those that will stay in my memory. It's a captivating book which is full of excellent descriptive passages which bring Hungary to life - but it has a dark side. Before I read this I don't think I had ever read a book about this part of the world, yet now I feel I want to know more about it. The book is unusual because the story is really not about Alexandra who is the main character, but it's about someone who has died recently and his ashes (and the urn they are in) are central to the storyline - most of the other characters (who are skillfully brought to life so you can picture them in your mind) are somehow linked to him. I would have given this book 5 stars but I felt that there was one aspect of the book that could have been improved on and that was concerning Alexandra's brother Jack. I would have liked some finality regarding him. Would I recommend this book though - yes. In fact when it does get published I'm going to buy it and give it as a present to a friend.

Years after the loss of her older brother, Jack, Alexandra Boyd travels to Bulgaria to teach English in homage to her beloved sibling. Soon after arriving in the elegant capital, Sophia, Alexandra stops to help an elderly woman and her companions, only to find one of the party's bags has been mixed up with her own. This is not ordinary luggage: she discovers an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov and realises this is a treasured funeral urn.

Alexandra sets out to reunite the urn with the family, and finds an unusual companion in her taxi driver, Bobby, whose Bulgarian name she is unable to pronounce. This is not so simple a task as she first hopes: Alexandra and Bobby unwittingly travel the country in search of the Lazarov family, learning long the way of Stovan's life as a musician and as a member of a communist labour camp; the brutality of political dissent, and how the past can shape the future in so many subtle ways.

It would be a mistake to compare The Shadow Land with Kostova's previous bestseller, The Historian. They are thematically similar only in the area of the world in which they are set. The Shadow Lands is not a supernatural story, though there is certainly a thrilling element to drive the plot. Instead I would prefer to describe this as a more mature novel: an exploration of a country and it's history; a story of family, relationships, loss and redemption.

The descriptions of Bulgaria, it's history, people and landscapes are truly wonderful. Kostova lets us see the wonder through Alexandra's eyes, her fascination and intrigue as she embarks on an impromptu tour of the country with the dread of an unknown threat hot on her heels. It is a comforting novel, melancholic in places, with a wonderful sense of character development. Reading this, I felt as though I could travel to the places described from the comfort of my sofa!

I sincerely hope that The Shadow Lands receives the credit it deserves, so that readers of this wonderful novel can fully enjoy the experience without in any way expecting similarity with The Historian. It is a slow-burning novel, providing the sensation of a familiar friend, and I was saddened to have finished it simply because I enjoyed it so much!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Shadow Lands will be published on 11th April, 2017 by Ballantine Books, and is available to pre-order now from Waterstones.

Emotionally gripping and full of sadness--this story was not an easy read. I did sometimes feel that the book was dropping bread crumbs as it told its tale, i.e. it was not a fast read by any means. However, I enjoyed following the trail to get to the ending. Additionally, I think the book was just as well written as "The Historian" was. It deals with a different kind of vampire though then "The Historian" dealt with-"The Shadow Land" deals with a political vampire, the kind found in a Fascist or a Communist run country. Which is a very scary monster indeed..

This book transports the reader from the mountains of North Carolina to the country of Bulgaria. The book takes place in present day with flashbacks to the time after WWII when Bulgaria had rehabilitation camps. This book shows you how strong the human spirit is. This book will be considered long by many readers but I did not want this book to end.

The heroine, a young American woman with family tragedy in her past, has arrived in Bulgaria to start a teaching job. Jet-lagged and confused, she appears to mix up her baggage with a Bulgarian family dressed in funereal black. In her taxi she discovers that she has gained a black wooden casket filled with the ashes of a dead man. What is she to do? With the help of the young taxi driver, she embarks on an odyssey through modern Bulgaria in an attempt to return the ashes to the family.
This is an intriguing novel. By its end the reader will have travelled through most of Bulgaria and have visited many of the most impressive sights the country has to offer. The reader will also have learned much about the history of the country from the Turkish occupation, through World War II and the communist era to the corruption of contemporary politics. The reader will also have been entertained by a mystery about the casket and dangers it represents to the heroine, the family and to Bulgaria.
I had not read anything by Elizabeth Kostova before, and I found this a novel which I enjoyed throughout. The most harrowing and gripping part was the episode in the communist labour camp. While I found the ending comparatively down beat and (I confess) a little disappointing, I have no regrets about reading a novel which helped me empathise with the experience of Bulgarians today. I do wonder, however, if those who have read her before will enjoy this as much as me. Although it has Gothic elements, this is novel rooted in evils that are entirely human in origin and practice.

I enjo.yed The Historian and recommended it. This book was slow and plodding. I waited for vampires but didn't get any. Only read30% i of the book. and quit because I thought it was going nowhere. When she started with ANOTHER story line about the violinist, I quit. .

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I have not read "The Historian", which seems to be Kostova's most acclaimed previous work, but I have read "The Swan Thieves", which I loved. This novel follows the same structure of a present(ish) day uncovering of a historical story, which makes sense of the present(ish) day mystery. Alexandra, an American, arrives in Sofia to teach English, and is taken by the airport taxi driver to the wrong hotel. She joins the taxi line to get another taxi to her hostel and helps the people in front of her to get into their taxi. In doing so, she inadvertently keeps one of their bags. This turns out to contains an urn with human remains. In her endeavours to return the urn to its rightful owners, she and her new taxi driver/sidekick Bobby run into threats and danger as they find out more about the life of the person who has been cremated.

Initially I found this novel intriguing (and I learnt things about Bulgaria during WW II), but it turned into an endless road trip during which Alexandra seemed to wear the same clothes and she and Bobby surely drove the length and breadth of Bulgaria without ever needing to refuel. Then there was the sheer unlikelihood of Bobby being the taxi driver she happened to get, Alexandra and Bobby feeling it was reasonable to undertake the whole quest, the dog turning out to have belonged to Stoyan etc etc. I skimmed the sections about Stoyan in the labour camps - I don't read novels about people suffering cruelly at the hands of others. The ending scene at the quarry was a high point for me - things did not turn out exactly as it seemed they might (in a good way).

Bobby's character was great, but as for the others... Alexandra only seemed to have a personality in relation to her lost brother Jack (that never really went anywhere - what was that about?), Stoyan I rather disliked. I had hoped Bobby might turn out not to be gay after all and for there to be an Alexandra/Bobby romance, but instead there was that ambiguous ending with Neven, who was surely old enough to be her father.

Disappointing and very long.

If you are expecting another "Historian", set aside your expectations. This is better.

The latest release from Elizabeth Kostova starts a bit slow but by the end I was glad I had stuck with it. Alexandra arrives in Bulgaria from the US ready to do a bit of traveling before she starts her new job teaching English in Sofia. When the taxi from the airport drops her at what turns out to be the wrong hotel, she takes a moment to try and decide how she's going to get to hers when she sees an older man traveling with an elderly couple. After Alexandra lends the man and couple a hand getting into their taxi she realizes she has accidentally held onto one of their bags. When she opens the bag she finds a box containing human ashes with a name carved into it.

Alexandra's attempts to find the couple and return the ashes take the reader on a journey across Bulgaria. We see Bulgaria's major cities, but also its countryside and smaller villages. The reader also delves into the regions past from pre WW II, to the communist years and it's aftermath. Along the way she also meets some people both good and bad that help build the tension and mystery that make this a book to recommend.

The Shadow Land is a beautifully written story. Some books are page turners that you can burn through in a day and others take forever to finish because they aren't compelling enough. I found myself reading this book at a slower rate than I usually do - not due to any deficiency in the book - rather I was feeling that I had taken enough in for one sitting. (The difference between consuming a lot of junk food but still feeling hungry versus a small nutritious meal leaving you satisfied.)
For me there were so many themes of interest... Although I'm old enough to remember the Cold War and the Iron Curtain - and I clearly recall the fall of the Communist block - I haven't really encountered much literature about life in Eastern Europe from 1944 - 2000. (Given the hundreds of WW2 stories from Western Europe I've read over the years, I'm kind of embarrassed by the oversight!)
The characters are each dealing with forms of quite intense grief - it's not that there's a tonne of psychoanalysis going on - but there's a believable connection and empathy between the protagonists that adds depth to the story.
The book does wind up pretty fast after keeping a steady pace for most of the story - but that's a minor structural concern in the context of a thought provoking read that I could connect to on a number of levels.

Try as I may I was unable to get into this book. The characters were hard to relate to, I waited for all the threads of the book to join up, but it didn't. I

"The Shadow Land" was both not what I expected from the author of "The Historian" and exactly what I should have expected. Kostova returns to Eastern Europe and employs her memorable lush language to tell a story of terror and tragedy of Communist Bulgaria - and against that backdrop, a story of a young woman seeking atonement.

The narrative grabbed me from the beginning, both the minutely familiar surroundings (I was born and raised in Communist Poland) and the intriguing chance encounter that jump starts Alexandra's adventures. I was astounded at just how realistically Kostova was able to paint a picture of a post-Communist country. I've never been to Bulgaria, but aside from some geographical differences, I might have just as well been reading about Poland, down to the "more beautiful women", too! The clash of the leftover Communist ugliness and drabness with the incoming Capitalist modernity, progress and new bourgeois ostentation - is stark - but does not dim the country's and its people's natural beauty, simplicity and truth. I was captivated by every word throughout those passages.

As Alexandra is falling in love with Bulgaria and its people, she learns of the country's tragedy and horror, too. Her quest to return the misplaced urn allows her to repent and forgive herself for a perceived wrongdoing in her past. The slow pace of this discovery can be frustrating to most readers, and as the narrative turned to frequent flashbacks, it started frustrating me, too. The suspense wasn't strong enough - the mystery not so mysterious - to maintain my original breathless pace of reading.

In the end there is no big reveal, just a quiet conclusion. While it might be tonally appropriate for the story the novel told, it adds to an overall disappointment with how the book turns out in the end. Some will love it for its slow lush trek through history, country and forgiveness. Others will miss the suspense and mysticism of "The Historian". Personally, despite the disappointing denouement, this book will stay with me for a while.

I loved this book. I am a big fan of Kostova, The Historian being one of my favorite books. The Shadow Land was an excellent read. As always, Kostova gives a peak into a little known bit of Slavic history/mystery. The story was well plotted and kept me guessing. I liked the characters and found them to be believable. This is one I'll be pushing to my book club and library patrons

When reading a book by Elizabeth Kostova you have to prepare yourself for an emotional journey and have time blocked off to do nothing but finish her book!

I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't finish it. Many insignificant things were described in too much detail and the plotting was very slow. The book was a real chore to get through.

The book's setting in Bulgaria was a new place for me. I learned a LOT about the history of the country through the protagonists' travels. The switching of narrators and flashbacks was not distracting, I wish there were more from Stoyan's point of view. Also, more Bobby's backstory/personal history would have added another layer of characterization that was missing yet needed.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed at times that the author was force-feeding/inventing sexual tension between Alexandra and Bobby, who is gay?
The novel plodded in the middle, I think the story would have been tighter if a couple of the stops were left out. The denouement was predictable, over in about 3 pages, and too "tied up with a bow." The book read like it was written for a movie adaptation. I won't be surprised to see the <trade> paperback movie tie-in edition a year from now.