Review: The Shadow Land

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I will post a longer and more detailed review closer to the release date as requested by the publisher.

When Alexandra Boyd was a young girl her brother disappeared. His body was never found, and her family never got closure. The experience and the aftermath have shaped Alexandra’s life. To help assuage her guilt, she decides to become an English teacher in Sofia, Bulgaria. Why Bulgaria? When she and her brother played the atlas game, it was his very favorite country. Maybe by going there, she will feel a deeper connection to his lost spirit.

Travel is tiring, and Alexandra is not at her best when she arrives. Her driver is not any help, she asks for her hostel, he takes her to a hotel. While she is trying to figure out what to do, she has a casual encounter with an elderly couple. Later she figures out that she has accidently added one of their cases to her luggage. Inside is a magnificent carved box containing a funerary urn, engraved with the name Stoyan Lazarov. Somehow, Alexandra must find the elderly couple and rectify her mistake.

Most people would have left it with the police or in the care of the hotel. Alexandra, however, still harbors a deep-seated pain over her last encounter with her brother, and the way she walked away from him. Even though Stoyan is just a pile of ashes, she cannot leave him behind; she must be the one to reunite him with his family. They must have the closure that she never did.

This simple act leads to a grand tour around Bulgaria. As she follows up each clue to the whereabouts of Stoyan’s missing family, she gets deeper and deeper into the mystery of his life. The action shifts back and forth from Alexandra’s present into Stoyan’s past. With each shift, we learn more about the horror and tragedy of Communist Bulgaria and Alexandra gets closer and closer to absolution.

This book is nothing like Kostova’s debut novel The Historian. There are no vampires and no mysticism. While this may disappoint some readers, The Shadow Land stands firmly on its own. It is a story of loss, repentance and the importance of family. The pace is slow, there are no big reveals, but the pieces come together seamlessly. Stoyan’s story is a powerful reminder of the challenges of living in an occupied country during wartime. This book is challenging, intellectual and engrossing. The characters are genuine, multi-layered and for the most part eminently likable. I recommend it to readers who enjoy a novel with a slower pace and greater depth.

I received a free advance copy of this book through Net Galley in return for an honest review. With that being said, all opinions contained are mine, I loved this book because it’s a great book, not because it was free. If you follow my feed you know I’m not afraid to tell it like it is.


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