Can the secrets of a love affair be reconstructed from the random objects left behind in an antique drawer?

The Writing Box is Milorad Pavić’s novel of hidden spaces, published in 1999. The story is structured around the physical contents of an old writing desk—postcards, a ship’s log, a map of the stars, and forgotten manuscripts. As the narrator explores these items, he unravels the complex love story between a Serbian student, Timotej, and a French woman named Lily.

True to Pavić’s interactive style, the novel originally featured two endings: one printed in the book itself, and another that existed only on the Internet, forcing readers to venture outside the physical text to complete the narrative.

It is a poetic exploration of memory and geography, asking whether we can ever truly know the inner world of another person through the things they leave behind.