Maria Staleva has not studied in renowned universities and has no academic titles either. She is not even famous and is not keen to pursue fame. She is just Maria, a real woman with a big heart accepting others unconditionally.

She recently released her first book, Raya Beyond the Great Water. Trying to engage readers on the topic of genuine happiness the title of the book is a pun. Raya is the name of the female protagonist but in Bulgarian it is the same word as paradise: in fact the American paradise that most emigrants dream of.

,,This is a story ocean-deep, revealing the dignity and beauty of the human soul and the power of the spirit which every human being is endowed with. But has he or she discovered this gift? Fortunately, the novel of Maria Staleva engages in this discussions and awakens us for this experience”, Assoc. Prof. Reni Zaharieva from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia said at the presentation of the book.

The key message of the author is about Love, genuine and unconditional love that we find not in someone else but in us when we are ready to give it with nothing expected in return. Only then it starts sprouting from “every action, every gesture, every thought…” to fill our existence with meaning.

“In this book I have expressed so much emotion that anyone who has a questing heart will feel it, "says Maria Staleva. "I'm surprised that everyone who has read the book says the same thing - that they have read it overnight, literally. And in the reviews I get, I realize that it has touched each of my readers deeply. That's because everyone is looking for happiness, everyone wants to be happy, and at the same time they do not know how. Many people are like Raya, not to say almost everyone is like her, and we are looking for happiness outside ourselves, through someone else, for someone else’s sake. We love ourselves if the other accepts us, but if he dismisses us, we are unhappy. That's because we do not know who we are; we do not realize the reason for being here.”

In the words of the author, we are in this world to show what God has endowed us with. When we evolve as personalities, we gradually fall into the material values and forget about our spiritual nature. We only pursue the needs of the body. What are we pursuing? Food, sex - these are the values that make the world go round, she says. Like many Bulgarians, Maria’s protagonist Raya goes to seek happiness beyond the ocean. She however is not after material happiness, but rather after the one that makes you forget reality.

However, in the foreign land, far from the familiar environment, among people from other cultures, illusions quickly disappear and reality is all you are left with. And so the dreamt of life boils down to a daily struggle for survival: no friends, no loved ones, no toehold. There is instead suffering, humiliation, a clash with the darkest aspects of humans that accompany emigrant life on the brink of existence. It is these trials that act as a catharsis for Raya and help her discover the truth about human happiness. “Some people seek happiness through material gains, others like Raya through love, fusion, unity with a person. And this is the biggest delusion because they are just a projection of our internal demand”, says Maria Staleva and adds:

“Many have gone abroad and made money, but how happy are they? You look at them smiling, rejoicing, but go to their homes and see how they live and how much energy they have to be happy and pay attention to their spiritual growth. Of course, we live in a material world and we need water, food, clothes ... but the material component must only be enough to allow for a dignified life. It should not be an end in itself because it leads to spiritual degradation. But if we instead subordinate the material things to the demands of the spirit, we begin developing qualities that take us to a higher level of existence."

Hardships on the way either make us stronger or defeat us, and anybody who fails to overcome the pain sinks into self-pity and becomes a victim. Maria Staleva's book is a push to all questing and fragile beings who need to discover Love in themselves – the Eternal, Infinite, Initial, True Love.

English Daniela Konstantinova