Elizabeth Kostova

This is an attempt to produce a novel about the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, in the structure of Bram Stoker's novel which means a lot of it is told through letters and postcards. Unlike Stoker's novel however which was up to the minute in terms of technology - accounts produced on typewriter, early recording machine or in shorthand - this is set in various time periods starting around 1930 with the researches into the whereabouts of Dracula's tomb by a historian Professor Rossi and goes up to an undisclosed period sometime after the 1970s when the story opens. The seventeen year old daughter of Rossi's student finds a strange book and some letters in her father's study and he gradually discloses to her the truth behind her mother's disappearance, which he does over a series of visits to historical sites around Europe.

The book started off intriguingly but for me the early promise was not realised. It is a long novel which is not only disjointed with the frequent switching back and forward between time periods and narratives, but all the voices in those narratives are indistinguishable. There were some good minor characters but a lot of things - one character's amnesia for example - are obvious plot contrivances. The climax is muddled - I couldn't work out why a certain minor character suddenly turns up to distract Dracula - and the postscript is just odd. So I would only award this 2 stars.… (mais)

Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to ‘My dear and unfortunate successor’. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of – a labyrinth where the secrets of her father’s past and her mother’s mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history

Well I enjoyed this. Bit of a love story, lots of history (if that's not real historical stuff it's very well made up!), not TOO heavy on the vampire stuff, though of course Dracula does make an appearance several times.

Whilst the daughter is prevalent at the start of the book, she does get "lost" in the middle, and makes a smallish appearance at the end of the book, which was a bit of a disappointment, as she was the one who initiated the story at the beginning… (mais)

This novel is long. Too long. So much tension and detail which should be riveting and was early in the novel, was boring by half way through. It does pick up again at the end.
What I did enjoy was all the references / history of famous artworks.
The mystery of Robert Oliver obsession with a little known 18th century artist never really gets explained and the ending didn’t satisfy this for me.
There were some good parts ( like Andrew Morrow the psychiatrist)that allowed me to finish this novel.… (mais)