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The The Parchment Maze ( Bulgaria, 2009) is a carefully crafted literary work that could be both entertaining and illuminating for English-speaking readers throughout the world, especially in the United States. The contribution of The Parchment Maze to the literature of the occult is quite significant. In my professional opinion, this novel surpasses those of both Dan Brown and Elizabeth Kostova in terms of complexity and theme.
Three specific features of the novel that are noteworthy are as follows: (1) the labyrinthine structure of the story; (2) the well-drawn relationships of Vera-Ariman, Vera-Futch, and Vera-her father; and (3) the sustained journey motif that stresses the quest for illumination/faith/paradise.
Finally, the mysterious ending of the novel leaves the reader hoping for more. Perhaps Vera is not dead. A sequel is certainly possible.

Ancient myths from both Bulgaria and the world, historical sources along with a lot fictionalized past, quoted manuscripts with lost ends, roads that cross, and characters in whose destinies events from more than a century and a half ago come together: these are only some of the ideas behind The Parchment Maze. The intricate interplay of history, its interpretations and politics in the novel determines the characters’ personal stories, while the author takes us through a number of genres in her writing: thriller, philosophical and historical novel, non-fictional and matter-of-fact literature. And although this technique reminds us of the voices of some of the bestselling writers of the day such as Dan Brown and Elizabeth Kostova, and even the internationally acclaimed Umberto Eco, The Parchment Maze shows us that these voices are very well assimilated into the writing of its author, who, nevertheless, retains her own style, respects the readers and relies on their active interpretation of the text, while at the same time wanting her writing to be convertible.

To recap in literary terms, The Parchment Maze is a typical post-modern novel, relying on quotability, the active role of the readers’ imagination in reading and interpreting the novel, and the readers’ readiness to experiment with genre-mixing (thriller, philosophical novel, journalistic narrative, etc). It is a novel that thinks of the separation between fiction and non-fiction, between literature and non-literature, as surmountable and which believes in quotability’s role as a fundamental principle on which our contemporary culture is based. As a result, the novel’s aspiration is to overcome the regional confinements in terms of both the problems treated and the way of thinking implied.

Putting on display some of the most controversial treasures of the Old World, the author takes us to the dusty backrooms of the museums where the ‘tricky’ artifacts are hidden.

The novel tells us the engaging story of a woman who has devoted her life to archaeology. Vera is a young scientist on the verge of a huge discovery that would completely alter our ideas about the past of our lands. At some point in the late prehistoric era there appeared a civilization that impacted greatly the development of Europe and the world. In her attempt to unravel the mysteries surrounding the history of that civilization, the heroine of the novel comes across a secret society, which has succeeded in keeping its secrets and knowledge hidden from the rest of the world since 4000 B.C. Who is Orpheus and who are the people who professed Orphism? When did they appear and why did they disappear? Who are their heirs and what are the secrets they are still keeping?