The Tail
About the book
Literary Thriller / Dystopian Fiction · 90,000 words
When Nevena, a young professional, inexplicably grows a tail, her fiancé Pavel, a writer who has published only one novel, is swept into a political storm that lays bare the mechanisms of power and the fragility of democratic society.
As the country descends into permanent political crisis, Pavel is persuaded to run for president. What begins as an intimate story of love and otherness gradually becomes a ruthless struggle for power, where media, religion, science, and state institutions merge into a single machinery of manipulation. Convinced he can remain morally untouched, Pavel sacrifices one compromise after another until the woman he loves becomes the final obstacle to his political destiny.
The Tail is a political novel told with the suspense of a psychological thriller and the atmosphere of a near dystopia. It explores the seduction of power, the fragility of freedom, and the price one can pay when private desires become public destinies.
Editions and facts
- Ciela, 2021.
- On stage: Ivan Radoev Drama and Puppet Theatre, Pleven, dir. Yavor Gardev. Askeer Award (2022).
Reviews
The Tail is a book defined in many ways: a political thriller, an anti-utopia of the present, a parable about the corruption of power. It is above all a conceptual novel. It is no coincidence that it begins with a quote from Plato. It reads lightly and engagingly, not because of the plot, but rather because of Karabashliev’s mesmerizing language, rich without being kitschy, erudite without being intrusive. For any enthusiast on the subject of signs and symbolism, The Tail is a feast.