{"product_id":"traveling-in-the-direction-of-iana-boukova-9798896230830","title":"Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe fates of eight characters in the nineteenth-century Balkans intertwine in this metafictional book of strange quests and nested narratives for fans of Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA woman who reads the future in the faces of her lovers, a dice-player whose unfailing luck becomes a curse, a manuscript illuminator who leaves his monastery to become a most fearsome bandit. Set in the Balkans in the nineteenth century, \u003ci\u003eTraveling in the Direction of the Shadow\u003c\/i\u003e follows eight characters--all defined by a quest, all marked by a hidden, often torturous talent--whose fates become inextricably interwoven. One of the characters, novelist Ian van Athen, may even be the progenitor of all the rest--although reality has a way of defying fiction, and vice versa, and van Athen soon discovers not even he is immune to the undeniable logic of story, to the twists and turns of his own fate... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRich with classical allusions and nested narratives that recall the fictions of Calvino and Borges, Iana Boukova's enthralling novel about the pleasures and perils of storytelling appears here in Ekaterina Petrova's masterful translation, and is imbued with all the beauty and unexpectedness of poetry. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe translation of \u003c\/i\u003eTraveling in the Direction of the Shadow\u003ci\u003e has been made possible with the financial support of the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria, 2024 Translation Program, and in partnership with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Iana Boukova\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798896230830\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"Iana Boukova","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48659685572863,"sku":"9798896230830","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/traveling-in-the-direction-of-iana-boukova-9798896230830","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}