The Swan Thieves

Elizabeth Kostova avoids the sophomore jinx with her second epistolary novel. While this volume isn't the fearsome novel that The Historian is, it does have plenty of enigmas and intrigue. (What would you expect without Vlad the Impaler) I enjoy reading novels that are based on old letters retrieved throughout the drama at just the right time. This is a modern day story of a troubled painter falling in love with a French painter from the late 1800s, who has long ago passed away. There isn't anything ordinary in this well conceived and original storytelling.

Robert Oliver, a renowned artist, suddenly attacks a painting in the National Gallery of Art. Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow tries to cure his presumed mental illness. Dr. Marlow has to become a detective when Robert Oliver refuses to communicate with him at the hospital. After tracking down Oliver's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, he begins to put the puzzle together. This leads him to a 1870s painter, Beatrice de Clerval, and her husband's uncle, Oliver Vignot. What does an attack on a painting known as Leda by Gilbert Thomas have to do with French Impressionist painters who have died a hundred years ago?

The side characters and the hint of history from the Battle of Sedan in 1870 was refreshing and ingenious. Kostova has the ability to come up with seemingly useless pieces of information and tie them together later in the story. This seems to be nearly Charles Dickens-like. (Classic readers - don't get angry; I said "nearly"!) This story was so engrossing that it tweaked my interest in the French impressionist artists of the 1870s and 1880s. I found myself looking up the likes of Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Edouard Manet. They used common subjects, small brush strokes and a new depiction of light. Thank you Elizabeth Kostova for writing a novel that revived my interest in art. The last time that happened was after reading Carol Wallace's Leaving Van Gogh: A Novel . Great job on a riveting and engaging novel. I highly recommend this second novel by Elizabeth Kostova.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Elizabeth Kostova writes in the Historical/Gothic genre. Living in Slovenia as a child, she became interested in Bulgarian folk music. As a Yale graduate, she participated in the Slavic chorus. Her next novel is due in 2013. It's going to be a mix of myth and folklore, going back and forth between past and present. It's to be set in the U.S.A. and Eastern Europe. Familiar?