The Shadow Land

February 27, 2017
A compelling and complex mystery, strong storytelling, and lyrical writing combine for an engrossing read set in the former Soviet-bloc nation of Bulgaria. Not long after Alexandra Boyd’s 2008 arrival in Sofia to teach English, she ends up with the wrong suitcase, which holds the remains of one Stoyan Lazarov in a carved box. She is determined to return it to the elderly couple traveling with their son, a handsome man who eventually haunts her dreams. Helping her on this quest is Asparuh Iliev, aka Bobby, an inscrutable taxi driver who believes in his nation’s beauty but fears for its future under the possible leadership of a powerful and wealthy politician whose anticorruption campaign is gaining political traction. They learn Lazarov was a talented violinist who faced political oppression. A parallel story line tells of Lazarov’s life. His attempt to become a concertmaster by currying favor with his orchestra’s Communist conductor has tragic consequences, setting up Kostova’s (The Historian) most emotional and harrowing moments.

February 1, 2017
Searching for the owners of a mysterious urn that's fallen into her possession, a young American traveler takes a weeklong drive through Bulgaria guided by an enigmatic cabdriver in Kostova's (The Swan Thieves, 2010, etc.) exploration of the price paid for love and art to survive under a brutal political regime.It's 2008. Alexandra Boyd, 26, has just arrived in Bulgaria from the Blue Ridge Mountains to teach English, and her cabdriver has accidentally dropped her off at an expensive hotel instead of the hostel where she's booked. Before finding another taxi for herself, she helps an elderly couple and the handsome middle-aged man accompanying them into their own cab, only to realize minutes later that she's taken one of their satchels. Inside she finds an urn containing the ashes of a man named Stoyan Lazarov, according to the label. Her English-speaking cabdriver, Bobby, reluctantly agrees to take her to the police station, where the officer in charge makes a call, then gives her an address where she might find the dead man's family. Alexandra and Bobby--who gradually reveals that he's gay and has an impressive resume as, among other things, a poet and political activist--set off to track down Lazarov's relatives. As they travel from lead to lead, they learn his history in connected narratives that carry the novel back to World War II and the Cold War era, when Lazarov's career as a violinist was destroyed after he spent time in an inhumane prison camp. A mood of threat takes over when Alexandra and Bobby realize they are being tracked by someone who doesn't want inconvenient truths exposed. While picaresque hero Bobby steals the readers' hearts, the romance Kostova drums up for Alexandra elsewhere and the back story of her guilt over a dead brother feel shoehorned into the novel, pallid in comparison to the drama of Bulgarian politics over the last 70 years. Kostova's passion and tragic sense of history, along with jewellike character studies, almost make up for the overplotting and repetitiveness as she drums her points home.

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March 1, 2017

Alexandra, 26, is headed to her new job teaching English in Bulgaria when, exhausted from hours of traveling and confused at having been dropped off at the wrong hotel, she reaches out to help an elderly woman get into a cab. As the car pulls away, Alexandra hails a taxi to take her to her hostel but discovers that she has accidentally picked up the old woman's satchel, which contains a beautiful box labeled with the name Stoyan Lazarov and filled with ashes. This is the story of her hunt to track down Stoyan Lazarov's family and return his remains to them. After checking in with the local police, Alexandra and her cab driver, Bobby, set off to locate the urn's owner. Following a slim trail of clues, they learn that the Communist takeover of Bulgaria came with an iron fist that enslaved thousands of suspected resistors, including the gentle Stoyan Lazarov. The more clues they uncover, the more the past catches up with them, until they, too, become a part of the mystery and find themselves in grave danger. This novel brings a horrific period of history to life, encapsulated in a mystery and stoked by Alexandra's determination to return Stoyan Lazarov to his family regardless of the danger. Interweaving tales juxtapose the past with the present as the mystery unfolds. VERDICT Those who enjoy a deep dive into the complicated lives of people both historical and contemporary will love this book.-Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017
On her first day in Bulgaria, American Alexandra Boyd acquires the ashes of violinist Stoyan Lazarov when she encounters a trio of Bulgarians and inadvertently keeps their bag. Boyd searches the country for Lazarov's family while sinister forces attempt to prevent her from exposing devastating truths. Occasionally reading like a travelogue, this novel is replete with extensive character description and authorial flourish. The pacing is leisurely, with recurring visits to previously encountered locales and expository characters, before a denouement that carefully threads together and ties off all story lines. Historical detail and a dual-time-period narrative is achieved with Lazarov's memoir of 1950s Communist Bulgaria, a tale strongly reminiscent of Holocaust fiction, adding appeal for fans of that genre. Kostova's phenomenally successful debut, The Historian (2005), was an international, period-jumping, doorstop literary thriller that relied heavily on epistolary elements. Her second novel, The Swan Thieves (2010), followed structural suit, and after seven years, her highly anticipated latest stays true to an exceedingly appealing pattern. Recommend Kostova's latest to readers seeking outstanding and suspenseful historical fiction. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Substantial prepublication buzz about best-selling Kostova makes this a must-buy for fiction collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2016

This third novel from the author of the New York Times best-selling The Historian finds a young American woman in Sofia, Bulgaria, helping a family into a taxi and realizing too late that she has kept one of their bags. The bag contains an ash-filled urn labeled Stoyan Lazarov, which leads our heroine to a particularly dark moment in Bulgarian history. With an eight-city tour.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2017

Alexandra, an American in her mid-20s, has decided to start life anew in Bulgaria. Soon after she lands in Sofia, her plans go awry when she discovers a stranger's bag among her own. Even more troubling, inside the bag is a box of cremated remains. While attempting to return the box, Alexandra becomes embroiled in a mystery that encompasses Bulgarian history from before World War II to the Bulgarian coup d'etat of 1944 that led to a communist state and through the present. On her adventure through the Bulgarian countryside, she is accompanied by an enigmatic taxi driver and meets many other interesting, rich characters. VERDICT This third novel from Kostova (The Historian; The Swan Thieves) will delight the author's fans. A slight hint of the mystical will appeal to readers who enjoyed Deborah Harkness's "All Souls" trilogy, while the mystery and thriller aspects will keep fans of Dan Brown and Umberto Eco reading. A fantastic book club pick. [See Prepub Alert, 10/17/16.]--Elizabeth McArthur, Bexar Cty. Digital Lib., BiblioTech, San Antonio

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

Alexandra, an American in her mid-20s, has decided to start life anew in Bulgaria. Soon after she lands in Sofia, her plans go awry when she discovers a stranger's bag among her own. Even more troubling, inside the bag is a box of cremated remains. While attempting to return the box, Alexandra becomes embroiled in a mystery that encompasses Bulgarian history from before World War II to the Bulgarian coup d'etat of 1944 that led to a communist state and through the present. On her adventure through the Bulgarian countryside, she is accompanied by an enigmatic taxi driver and meets many other interesting, rich characters. VERDICT This third novel from Kostova (The Historian; The Swan Thieves) will delight the author's fans. A slight hint of the mystical will appeal to readers who enjoyed Deborah Harkness's "All Souls" trilogy, while the mystery and thriller aspects will keep fans of Dan Brown and Umberto Eco reading. A fantastic book club pick. [See Prepub Alert, 10/17/16.]--Elizabeth McArthur, Bexar Cty. Digital Lib., BiblioTech, San Antonio

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.