The novel "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova is what I would describe as a Materpiece. It's based on the true life person
Vlad Tepes, most commonly known as Dracula.
The story takes place in the 1960's after the main character, an American teenage girl who lives in Netherland whith her diplomat father who's often away from home finds an ancient book and some old letters in her father's bookshelf and after reading it, goes out to explore the secret that her father hides that concerns very much with her mother who disappeared in misterious circumstances not long after giving birth to her. Traveling with a companion across the world to find some answers, she uncovers patches of history that were carefully and consistently hidden for decades. Her journey to research the source who wrote the letters and what happened to him reveals to her ancient secrets about her family's past. But she doesn't know that she's about to find much more than she expected. This story is taking place in
different times in history, different places. There are many characters and even the ones who don't seem important are revealed to be of great importance in the end. The ending is so unexpected and full of
suspense in a way that whatever guess the reader might take during the reading about the possible ending will most likely prove to be wrong.
The author based her book on a lot of true historical facts, and it's almost impossible to know which events happened in real life and which events are made up for the plot's sake. It is a thick book, but the story is fluid and it's so magnitizing the reader that it's very hard to put it down. The characters are well developed and the storyline never fails to surprise the reader. It's full of suspense and also wonderful and breathtaking descriptions of places around the world in which the characters visit. Excellent writing.