House on the Hill Above the River

In the old Bulgarian town of Belogradets, two families live across a narrow lane — one obsessed with appearances, the other with keeping score. Between them, a young man named Yavor spends decades performing goodness while keeping a secret ledger of who noticed. When his neglected brother dies in his arms and the aunt who raised an entire generation is stolen from her own home by greed, Yavor is forced to confront the frightened man behind his own polished mask. Spanning post-socialist Bulgaria to the Bulgarian parishes of Vienna, this deeply philosophical family saga explores how vanity disguises itself as piety, how love becomes transaction, and how the self we defend most fiercely is smaller than the life moving through it. A novel about mirrors, wheat, church bells, and the long road from being seen to finally seeing.