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Alexandra travels to Bulgaria to teach English and fulfill the dream she and her late brother had of seeing the country. Once there, she accidentally ends up with someone else’s bag containing an urn and human ashes. With the help of a friendly taxi driver, she attempts to track down the bag’s owner. Things get progressively creepier as it seems they are being followed by persons unknown. I love how the mystery builds, and I could not wait to find out how the stories from the past and the present fit together. Recommended By Jennifer H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"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
Review
"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
Review
"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
Review
"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
About the Author
Elizabeth Kostova is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Historian, for which she won the 2006 Book Sense Award for Best Adult Fiction and the 2005 Quill Award for Debut Author of the Year, and The Swan Thieves. She graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for Novel-in-Progress.
Elizabeth Kostova on PowellsBooks.Blog
The Shadow Land is a novel about Bulgaria. Actually, its main character is a young American woman who travels to Bulgaria in 2008 without knowing much about the country, trying to escape a tragedy in her life back home. She’s been in the capital, Sofia, for about an hour when she ends up accidentally taking someone else’s bag...
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