A Manuscript Found in Vydropuzhsk

The title refers to Potocki’s “Manuscript Found in Saragossa.” I simply had nowhere to go: the name of this village, Wydropuzhsk, practically followed me for more than a year, ever since we went there. For a whole year I twisted it every which way, tried it on, like a monkey putting on glasses. No, the plot was invented… well, more or less—because with the idea I managed to write only one book, “A Saucepan Full of Troubles,” and even then, at the end, the heroine went off-script.

So there was a plot, but the title wouldn’t come. And then Ян Потоцкий (Jan Potocki) caught my eye, and it popped out by itself.

Still, I didn’t dare to repeat Potocki’s “novel within a novel within a novel” trick—this story will be more or less straightforward…

You can also see a nod to the heroine’s profession in the title, but to another book: “The Dumas Club” by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Alena has the same profession as Lucas Corso: they are hunters for rare books. Middlemen are antique dealers and book-sellers. And all—or almost all—of my heroes’ adventures will be tied to that.