Elizabeth Kostova combines several things in one novel; it is amazing to see how the author has given equal time to all of the motives in the novel. The story does not get too much pace at any of the stages; it slowly continues at the same speed and keeps on gathering things from the surroundings for the audience.
Alexandra Boyd is the girl facing a tragedy in the novel but as she moves on she realizes that she is not the only one with some problems. People around Alexandra are also with the grief of their own which they have kept hiding from the rest of the world. Alexandra lost her brother in an accident and since then she has not been feeling one hundred percent.
All the charms in her life have vanished because she loved her brother so much and there is no other company that she has in her life now. Going from place to place the girl seeks some hope which she sadly does not find. One day while she was trying to cross the road she saw a couple coming out of the taxi. The old couple needed some help with the luggage which was provided to them by Alexandra when the two left Alexandra found out that they have forgotten a small box. In that small box, there were ashes of a human being which the old couple lost.
Alexandra started looking for them and in the process, she also met a musician who was down and out because of the situations he confronted in life. In Barrie Kreinik’s voice, we listen to a woman who is slowly coming back towards life. The Historian and The Swan Thieves were great books but those books were not multidimensional. This novel talks about many things in a single go. There are emotions, tragedy along with some touch of chance and coincidence in the novel.
