Bulgaria? Backward, corrupt and lazy? As the new ambassador in London, Varadin Dimitrov, is designated to enhance the image of Bulgaria in the West. When he rings the bell at the respectable address of the embassy in Kensington one morning, he finds that there is indeed a lot of work ahead of him: a provincial mayor at hangover breakfast, the cook at loggerheads with his wife, the vacuum cleaner – broken. Indeed, the civilized world owes thanks to Bulgaria for the invention of the water closet, but that does not help the new ambassador on his mission, nor does the fact that his predecessor refuses to clear the house as he is desperately fighting his return home. And above all: the freezer in the cellar houses ducks kidnapped by the Russian Mafia. Mission impossible? Varadin Dimitrov seeks assistance with a PR-Agency that promises him access to London's high society – glitter, glamour and dozens of celebrities. One of them is his cleaning lady; she leads a double life and moreover she's been dead for the longest time. There's something terribly wrong here, isn't it …. Alek Popov tells of the East in the West and the West in the East. In this novel full of wonderful characters he tells a story of pure folly, sounding as if all of this were not in the least bit funny. English translation available

Stanisławów around 1900: a Galician town at the outskirts of the Habsburg Empire. Two sisters, Adelja and Stefa, "entwined in each other like two tree trunks", support each other, suffocate each other, grow up together. When Adelja marries Petro the stonemason, the entwinement turns into a triangle from which Stefa futilely tries to escape. When Torn the magician comes to town with his circus, Felix, a boy contortionist, who looks like an angel suddenly appears in Petro's workshop. The boy is mute, extremely flexible, and a fragile as paper. "The Paper Boy" is a rich story full of color and detail. It brings us closer to a long forgotten time as it tells a fascinating tale of love and betrayal.