Everything Happens as It Does

WINNER OF THE 2013 CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN WRITERS CONTEST Albena Stambolova's idiosyncratic debut novel, Everything Happens as It Does, builds from the idea that, as the title suggests, everything happens exactly the way it must. In this case, the seven characters of the novel--from Boris, a young boy who is only at peace when he's around bees, to Philip and Maria and their twins--each play a specific role in the lives of the others, binding them all together into a strange, yet logical, knot. As characters are picked up, explored, and then swept aside, the novel's beguiling structure becomes apparent, forcing the reader to pay attention to the patterns created by this accumulation of events and relationships. This is not a novel of reaching moral high ground; this is not a book about resolving relationships; this is a story whose mysteries are mysteries for a reason. Written with a precise, succinct tone that calls to mind Camus's The Stranger, Everything Happens as It Does is a captivating and detail-driven novel that explores how depth will never be as immediately accessible as superficiality, and how everything will run its course in the precise manner it was always meant to. Albena Stambolova is the author of three novels. She has also published a collection of short stories and a psychoanalytical study on Marguerite Duras. She currently lives in Bulgaria, where she works as a psychological and organizational consultant, and is working on a book about fairy tales. Olga Nikolova completed her PhD at Harvard University, with a dissertation on modern poetry, graphic design, and academic writing. She's been translating the works of Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein in to Bulgarian.

About the Author :
Albena Stambolova is the author of three novels. She has also published a collection of short stories and a psychoanalytical study on Marguerite Duras. She currently lives in Bulgaria, where she works as a psychological and organizational consultant, and is working on a book about fairy tales. Olga Nikolova completed her PhD at Harvard University, with a dissertation on modern poetry, graphic design, and academic writing. She's been translating the works of Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein in to Bulgarian.

Review :
"It leaves behind a shifted sense of the poignantly fleeting drama of an individual life --so small, yet so unwieldy, and so inexorably tied up with everything it encounters as it passes."--Helen Stuhr-Rommereim, Full-Stop "Everything Happens as It Does is a novel which operates under the maxim: 'The world allows descriptions. And resists thought.' We should remember that in this world of happenings, we are part of that happening; we occur alongside every other occurrence; and our value and significance only comes out of these happy moments . . ."--Jacob Glover, Numéro Cinq "Stambolova's novel is based on the notion that human existence cannot but move toward an inexorable and irrational order: Everything happens the way it has to happen, because this is the way it happens. The characters in Everything Happens as It Does are created on this exact principle."--Milena Kirova