The Shadow Land

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
Published by Ballantine Books on April 11th 2017
Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Pages: 496
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books

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 oppression and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger.
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.

**Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for supplying my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

Let me just say this was a beautiful book. Have you ever been to Bulgaria? Well, The Shadow Land is like a trip to this beautiful country.

When Alexandra Boyd sets foot in Sofia, she is amazed by the lovely European city. It’s a city where history meets with the modern day life. Alexandra is an American young woman who is coming to Sofia to teach hoping that the new city and new job will help her overcome her agony. She had lost her brother Jake some years ago, and ever since that tragic event, her life hasn’t been the same. Growing up together, Alexandra and Jake have been close. They have both dreamed of visiting Bulgaria. This was her brother’s favorite spot on the map. Now, Alexandra feels she’s fulfilling part of her brother’s dream by coming to this beautiful country, though pitifully she’s coming without him.

After a long flight from the states to Sofia, Alexandra takes a taxi to the hotel she had previously booked. But, the driver misunderstood her and took her to another hotel. Such a trivial and slight misunderstanding was the start of a long series of events. She realized the driver’s mistake just after he left her there on the hotel steps. However, while standing there pondering what to do, she sees a Bulgarian family. A very handsome man with his two elderly parents. When the old lady almost trips on the steps, Alexandra steps right away to help. This very slight kind gesture from Alexandra got her into a whirl of events.

Alexandra has taken the family’s small bag instead of hers by mistake. Unfortunately, she discovers this after she leaves the hotel in a taxi. Now she’s very annoyed with herself. She feels responsible especially after she sees the contents of the bag. It’s a wooden urn containing human ashes. Carved on that wooden box is the name of the man. His name is Stoyan Lazarov and this urn contains his ashes. Now, no way Alexandra can rest before returning this very precious bag to the family. Fortunately, her taxi driver Bobby is very helpful and he agrees to drive her to wherever she has to go to return the bag.

But as soon as Alexandra and Bobby start their search for the family, they are caught up into a very suspenseful whirl of events. The very simple mission of finding the family seems to be impossible. The family is nowhere to be found. Moreover, someone is following Alexandra and Bobby. There’s no way they can return this precious bag safely without knowing who Stoyan Lazarov is.

So,The Shadow Land is also the story of Stoyan Lazarov. As we follow Alexandra and Bobby in their search, we also delve into the story of Stoyan Lazarov, the Bulgarian musician. And this is the most striking story that we and Alexandra will get to know!

In The Shadow Land, we see Bulgaria. Elizabeth Kostova does a fantastic job describing the beautiful scenery. I loved the mountains, the meadows, the sea, the birds, just everything. I felt I could see and smell the beautiful nature. I haven’t been to Bulgaria before though it’s one of the countries I would love to visit. I have a special passion for European countries where you feel that the beautiful nature is the witness on history. A history of grace and elegance and also a history of war and agony.

It’s this history of war and communism that The Shadow Land takes us into. In this painful story Elizabeth reminds us that the freedom we take for granted now didn’t come free of charge. It had costed previous generations a lot of misfortune, oppression and agony to reach the current state. And it’s unbelievable what some people had to endure. Moreover, it’s very striking and painful how very simple and peaceful their dreams were. For a man to hope only for a very simple life with his loving wife with no luxuries at all and be denied that!

But those were also the years of glory. The years of beautiful music and art. The years of great books. It was such a joy reading about such art where you can listen to Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart.

I truly loved this book. It was a bit long but I think the author had to do that. She wanted us to see Bulgaria the way she sees it. A lovely work from a lovely author.