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Kostova,ElizabethKrauss, NicoleThe HistorianElizabeth Kostova’s The Historiancombines a search for the historicalDracula with a profound sense thatStoker got some things right, that thelate Mediaeval tyrant kills among us yet,undead and dangerous. From Stoker, shealso takes a sense that the supernaturalseems more real when embedded indocumentary evidence.The History of LoveLeo Gursky is an old locksmith who feelsas though he is disappearing. He triesat all costs to draw attention to himself,but still feels he has a void in his life;eventually, he goes on a quest to find hislong-lost son and the novel that he wroteas a young man, now published in Chileunder a different man’s name.Alma Singer is a young teenage girl whois trying to keep her family together afterthe loss of her father. Named after theheroine of The History of Love, Alma triesto console her widowed mother (who hasrecently been requested to translate thenovel from Spanish) as well as keep heryounger brother from becoming a socialpariah.49