Sofia Literary Agency represents Bulgarian authors and titles in the field of literary fiction, poetry and children’s books.
With its language and structure, this book belongs to the tradition of the great European novel – complex and tense, attentive to detail and metaphorical, relying on the rhythm of language and recurring motifs, mapping the hidden structures of memory. At once sensory and conceptual, sensual yet intellectually reflective, superimposing various micro-stories, Ilan’s personal narrative becomes a metaphor for universal human problems.
— Kristina Yordanova, Literary Newspaper
Ilan is a middle-aged man immune to pain and loss. Or so he claims. Composed as a letter to the young son he has fully cut ties with, The Pain Comes Later (2025) offers Ilan’s boldly intimate, linguistically sensuous, philosophically provocative confession. A life story spanning over countries, generations and the four relationships in his life, its key one – a taboo. The retrospective monologue of this modern-day father fills one of the fundamental gaps in Abraham and Isaac’s story: the missing account of what a man goes through before sacrificing his own son, and of the way he justifies it. Rewriting archetypal narratives, this monumental saga draws on Apostolova’s experience in both Israeli and Bulgarian cultures and traces migration routes from Romania, Egypt, Cyprus and Ukraine to craft a world both deeply rooted in the local, yet universally resonant. The Pain Comes Later follows the unpredictable currents of memory and self-reflection into a disturbingly honest exploration of family dynamics, parenthood, and sexuality. The novel was shortlisted for the Novel of the Year award by the National Endowment Fund 13 Centuries Bulgaria, the Peroto award by the National Book Centre of Bulgaria and the Helikon award.