Blood of a Mole introduces a nameless character who runs a pet shop. Barely anyone ever comes in and buys anything, until one day a strange lady comes in asking for the blood of a mole. She claims that 3 drops of this blood would cure her son’s unnamed illness. The pet shop owner does not really have moles but feels bad that they couldn’t help the woman, so they slip into the back room and slit their wrist. The owner gives their blood to the lady, telling her that it is the blood of a mole. The lady comes back later saying her son could walk again. A few days later, a man comes in claiming that he needs three drops of mole’s blood so that he can save his dying wife. He takes more blood from the pet shop owner’s wrist and leaves. Finally, the next day, a mob of people waiting by the pet shop, all wanting mole’s blood, clutching little glass bottles and knives… This iconic short story has been translated and published into more than 30 languages.

In 2007 it was first published in the USA as a part of the anthology New Sudden Fiction, Short-short stories from America and Beyond. In 2015 the Danish publishing house Lindhardt og Ringhof Uddannelse included the text in a high school literature textbook. The short story has also been included in a literature textbook for the 8^th grade in the USA.

This is Evtimova’s most emblematic short story collection, reprinted tens of times in Bulgaria.   

cover design by DIMITAR KELBECHEV