A Short Tale of Shame
SynopsisPlot
After deciding to take a semester off their studies to think about future plans, long-time friends Maya, Sirma, and Spartacus decide to hitchhike to the sea. Boril Krustev, former rock star and middle-aged widower who is driving aimlessly to outrun his grief, picks them up and accompanies them on their journey. It doesn't take them long to figure out they're connected to each other by more than their need to travelspecifically through Boril's daughter, whose actions damaged each of the characters in this novel.
Story
About this book
Three university friends, Maya, Sirma, and Spartacus, pause their studies for a semester and set out to hitchhike to the sea. On the road they are picked up by Boril Krustev, a middle-aged widower and former rock musician driving without a destination, trying to stay ahead of his grief. The chance meeting turns complicated when the travellers realise they are linked by more than the trip. That link runs through Boril's daughter, whose actions damaged each of them.
Shame and guilt sit at the centre of the book, shaping how each character speaks, withholds, and eventually explains. Igov keeps the cast small and the setting contained, letting the shared car and the route to the coast force proximity between people who have reasons to avoid one another. Old friendships are tested as much as the new acquaintance.
The novel was a co-winner of the Contemporary Bulgarian Writers Contest. Written by Angel Igov, it places a story about personal responsibility in a Bulgarian landscape of roads, lifts from strangers, and a coastline that works as destination and as reason to keep moving.
