The Shadow Land By Elizabeth Kostova from Penguin Random House publishing. Alexandra Boyd, a young American woman, travels to the elegant East European city of Sophia, Bulgaria, hope and that life abroad will soften a recent loss. Shortly after arriving, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi, then realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside, she finds an ornately wooden box engraved with the name: Stoyan Lazarov. Rising the lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes. As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she begins to uncover the decades-old secrets of a talented musician whose life was shattered by oppression and discovers that this knowledge is fraught with present-day danger.
