The fall of the Iron Curtain changes many things in Bulgaria: secrets buried for decades begin to come to light as the exiled are now able to return home and reunite with their loved ones. One of these reunions brings Eva Marinova, a journalist from Sofia, to travel to New York searching for a clue to her past. There she unravels the history of four Bulgarian families whose fates were cut short by the anti-Semetic laws of Tsar Boris III and his authoritarian regime that prevailed following World War II. In the 1930s, Jules Calderon was one of the wealthiest men in Bulgaria. Thanks to an ingenuous plan, he succeeded in saving his company empire from compulsory purchase by the state by turning it into an anonymous international consortium called Alternus. As the Bulgarian secret service tries to track down the billions of dollars, Eva discovers the odd link between the Calderons' accountant Mr. Nushkov, their lawyer Mr. Marinov, and Jacques Levi, a friend of the Calderon son. Originally published in 2006 and considered by critics one of the best Bulgarian novels of the century, this book is a gripping political thriller that covers half a century of Eastern European history.