Fantastic travelogue of fictitious countries

The son of a pepper merchant, Dževik grew up on stories from Olondria, a distant land where books, unlike his homeland, are common. When his father dies and Dževik takes his place on the annual business trip to Olondria, his life is almost perfect. But just as he is enjoying the feast of birds there, he is drastically shaken from his peace by the ghost of a young girl who begins to haunt him.

Dževik of Tyom's account of his journey from the Tea Islands to the mysterious Olondria may officially fall into the fantasy genre, but in fact it is a trans-genre book that sometimes reads like a prose poem, sometimes like a LeGuinian ethnographic study of fictional peoples and sometimes as a travelogue saturated with the scents and colors of Africa, where the book was created.

And besides, it is also a confession of love for literature, books and stories and the possibilities of the word as such.