A little boy at the centre of a broken love. A broken love through the eyes of a little boy.
A little boy in the thrill of a nascent love. A nascent love in the heart of a little boy.
And more: abandoned and depressed mother, guilty father in love, graceful and seductive female friend, energetic and determined grandmother, smart and glamorous uncle…
Brine pool, mud, yoga, meditation – a recovery programme for all of us…
Finally a flock of pelicans that will caress your soul with its humanity and authenticity…
“Pelican Feather” is a book of memories, dreams and growth.
I want to write a tale about the pelicans. A tale so enchanting that it would replace all the tales about swans. I want to write it with the pelican feather. I want it to tell it to me.
The novel tells the story of Martin,a ten year old boy who spends a summer with his mother and grandmother in the seaside city of Burgas after his father has left the mother for her best friend. Martin is the main narrator so the main line in the novel presents his experiences and thinking. His narrative is interwoven with monologues of the seven adult characters showing their deepest feelings and life experiences which have influenced them and their views. The novel also gives a fascinating glimpse of the world around Burgas’s salt and mud pools and the lake with its rich birdlife. It is a face of Burgas which is unknown even to many of its citizens. The city itself with its realias becomes a main character.
“Pelican Feather” is a panorama of contemporary Bulgarian society. It covers political protests, ecology, confusion in moral values, poverty, but also goodness, friendship, and the reaching out of hands. Life in the book is colourful, authentic, true, full of sounds, and above all alive. Тhe story is so real that at times you has the feeling it is happening in front of your eyes. You are a witness but not from a distance. An involved witness; a witness who somehow actively feels for the characters as they are close to you, as you are close to them…Proximity of feeling – perhaps this would be the best short definition of the novel “Pelican Feather”.
Mitko Novkov, literary critic and editor
“Pelican Feather” is a story of romantic love in two intertwining voices. A mother’s at the end of her marriage-on her wry and brave path to recovery. Her son’s at the start of first love-gauche and idealistic, but none the less authentic.
It is spiced with vivid accounts of contemporary Bulgaria and just the right sprinkling of magic realism.”
Phil Madden, poet, writer and editor of the English translation
“Irina Papancheva has managed to express both the innocence and the astonishing ability of observation of a child’s point of view in such a complex situation. The author approaches all her characters with understanding and provides them with the opportunity to share their versions of the story.
It is a touching book whose season is definitely summer. Its pages evoke the scents of Burgas, the first love and the hope for a new beginning.”
Gabriela Kozhuharova, I read (Az cheta) literary website
“Pelican Feather” /excerpt .pdf format/
YouTube Channel
Photographic interpretation of Borislav Penkov and Mirela Karadzhova
Trailer of Pelican Feather
And Pelican Feather’s blog
About Pelican Feather interview with Irina Panacheva