Nestinarka

The main character of the book, Peter Wiley, is a traumatized young man whose skepticism about the surrounding world has been shaped by the impact of his experience - both in his work as an agent and from the war in the Balkans in the 1990s. When the investigation brings him to Bulgaria, Peter's skepticism is shaken by a late and unsuspected love. On his way, the protagonist reaches his personal catharsis and discovers that sometimes man does not need all the answers - but only one.

Nestinarstvo is a fire ritual originally performed in several Bulgarian- and Greek-speaking villages in the Strandzha Mountains close to the Black Sea coast in the very southeast of Bulgaria. It involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embers performed by nestinari. It is usually performed on the square of the village in front of the whole population on the day of Sts. Constantine and Helen or the day of the village's patron saint. The ritual is a unique mixture of Eastern Orthodox beliefs and older pagan traditions from the Strandzha Mountains.