The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

genre: fiction/historical fiction

Alexandra has arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, ready to do a little exploring before she begins her English teaching job. One choice, one inadvertent mistake, turns Alexandra’s vacation time into a desperate hunt to return something she has accidentally become in possession of: an urn of ashes. Whose ashes are they? How can she find the rightful owner? It isn’t long before she’s beginning to see that something isn’t right - danger is lurking and sorting things out will require delving into Bulgaria’s dark history and the personal experiences of one Bulgarian: Stoyan Lazarov.

I can’t decide if this deserves 3.5 stars or 4. It was really engaging - the story swept me a long and I started caring about the characters. I liked learning the history of Bulgaria and things tied together well in the end.  The switching between time periods worked for me and although it was hard to read, I found Stoyan's hardships under Communism to be very powerful - a real test of the human spirit.  I just had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit - relationships matured super quickly and there were a few coincidences that felt like a stretch. But again, I always wanted to read it - so I’m glad I finished.