Natural Novel

The most translated Bulgarian novel after 1989, Natural Novel appeared in 22 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and, most recently, Icelandic. The book is widely reviewed across Europe and the US.

A man’s life suddenly breaks down, his wife is pregnant but he is not “the author of her pregnancy”. While he is slowly descending into homelessness, the story of his failure constantly slips away and merges into a natural history of the lavatory, the flies, the bees. His effort to create a novel of beginnings mysteriously coincides with the destinies of two other characters: an editor of the same name, Georgi Gospodinov, and a mad gardener (natural scientist) who is trying to restore the lost harmony between words and things.

A novel of ideas following Linnaeus, Darwin, but also Michel Foucault, set in the turbulent Eastern Europe of the 90’s.

About Natural Novel:

“…a quirky, compulsively readable book that deftly hints at the emptiness and sadness at its core”.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“…anarchic, experimental début”

THE NEW YORKER

“…humorous, melancholy and highly idiosyncratic work”

THE TIMES

“…both earthy and intellectual”

THE GUARDIAN

“Georgi Gospodinov wants to blow your mind—or maybe just provide the ultimate bathroom reader”.

THE VILLAGE VOICE

“…a quick and enjoyable - and surprisingly affecting - work”.

COMPLETE REVIEW

“…humorous, melancholy and highly idiosyncratic work”

THE TIMES

A machine for stories…

LE COURRIER, Geneva

“funny and erudite, arrogant and refined, but brilliant in every respect and innovative in its form”

LIVRES-HEBDO, Paris

“Small and elegant masterpiece”.

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

“Humorist of the desperation”.

NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG