The Book of Mirrors, the first novel in English of Eugen Ovidiu Chirovici, a Romanian author currently residing in Brussels, will be released on January 26 by UK imprint Century, part of Penguin Random House. The book will then become available in a few dozen countries, including U.S., Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Romania, in the following weeks.

Chirovici, who was previously based in the UK, made headlines when The Book of Mirrors, was signed by publishers in 23 countries almost two years before release. Some rights auctions involved up to 11 publishers in each territory, The Guardian reported. So far, the book has been translated into 37 languages.

The publisher describes the upcoming release as “a gripping psychological thriller full of hidden fragments and dark reflections” and “the perfect novel for fans of psychological suspense.” Readers are introduced to literary agent Peter Katz as he receives an unfinished manuscript entitled The Book of Mirrors. The author, Richard Flynn, is writing a memoir about his time at Princeton in the late 80s, documenting his relationship with the famous professor Joseph Wieder, whose murder had never been solved.

Of the book, which was first drafted between February and June 2014, Chirovici says on his website that it can be read as a “whodunit, a crime novel. But I would say that it’s a whydunit. I have always thought that after three hundred pages the reader should get something more than just who killed Jane or John. I have also always thought that a writer should aspire to discover the magic land of good stories that are literary at the same time.”

Eugen Ovidiu Chirovici was born in 1964 in Fagaras, a town in southern Transylvania, located half-way between Brasov and Sibiu.

An economist by profession (he graduated from the Bucharest’s Academy of Economic Studies in 1988), Chirovici became known in Romania as a reporter for The National Courier, a daily newspaper that was created immediately after the Romanian Revolution. He also worked as a TV producer and was and advisor to Romania’s National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu in the early 2000s. He was also a Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Romania.

He published his first novel in Romania in 1991. The book, called The Massacre, sold over 100,000 copies in less than a year. After his second book, launched the same year, he didn’t publish anything for 13 years. He has published ten novels and five non-fiction books on history, economics, and foreign affairs in Romania before leaving the country and settling in the UK in 2012.

editor@romania-insider.com