Photo by Marius Morkevičius

Mantas Adomėnas is a politician; he earned his master’s degree as a Classicist at Vilnius University and obtained a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge. In 2024, Adomėnas became Secretary General of the Community of Democracies. The intellectual spy novel duology, “Moneta ir labirintas” (The Coin and the Labyrinth), marked his literary debut and instantly became a bestseller.

       Moneta & labirintas; Moneta & labirintas II (The Coin and the Labyrinth). Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2023-2024. – 573 p., 559 p. English sample translation available

A thriller of ideas, this novel is a long, multilayered, and multidimensional investigation conducted by Tomas Narvydas (an intelligence officer from the Department of Deep Geopolitics within the Lithuanian security services) into the death of his friend, teacher, and mentor Leonas Nevardauskas. Why did a man disliked by Russia’s security structures, who avoided Russia, suddenly find himself alone and helpless in the harsh climate of the city of Nizhnedvinsk? Who is responsible for his death, and why? These questions spark up the extensive investigation known as “Operation Devil’s Finger”, detailed across the two volumes of “Moneta ir labirintas” (The Coin and the Labyrinth). This philosophical spy novel is rich in intertextual linings and is filled with literary and cultural references. It deconstructs the esoteric thinking that is so characteristic of and widely spread within Moscow’s power network. The timelines of the duology extend far into the past: the first volume reaches back to the origins of the Lithuanian independence movement Sąjūdis, Tomas’s studies at Vilnius University, and Vilnius in the latter half of the 1980s. The second volume, in an attempt to decipher the deep geopolitical scheme and the Kremlin’s magical structure, delves as far back as 15th-century Europe, which was facing serious dilemmas about its geopolitical future. It is a novel of great ambition, contexts, and diverse geographical settings, depicting not only the characters’ growth but also the development of the independent Lithuanian state. It is a story about freedom and its (im)possibilities, about espionage and counterintelligence, about Vilnius, a city where many intelligence paths intersect due to its geographical position, and about the Third Rome, ultimately about the eternal struggle between good and evil. (NB: The duology’s first volume ends with what may be the best cliffhanger in Lithuanian literature yet.)

Read English sample translation

Awards

2023: The Coin and the Labyrinth awarded the Book of the Year Prize (Lithuania)

Contact for rights: eimante@baltoslankos.lt

Contact for samples & other inquiries: kotryna.pranckunaite@lithuanianculture.lt