At Winterfest 2026, Newmag will present Marianna Hakobyan’s “Don’t Change the Names” (trailer)
01/26/2026
A single incident from 1999 turns into a criminal case two decades later, and the truth becomes a dangerous revelation. Marianna Hakobyan’s “Don’t Change the Names” is a novel where silence itself becomes the main suspect.
What really happened in one of the apartments on Baghramyan Avenue when a famous MP, a minister, and a novice journalist crossed paths? How do difficult childhoods, post-traumatic stress, and unanswered questions shape the lives of those involved? And how does a girl born from rape grow up in constant doubt?
Hakobyan’s novel is more than a journalistic investigation, it breaks down walls of silence, exposes hidden fears, and forces its characters to return to the house where it all began. After her mother’s death, young journalist Lucy discovers two mysterious folders, and the information within gradually unveils a dangerous truth.
Are the manuscripts her mother left behind fiction, or a personal diary? Did her mother die accidentally, or was she murdered? And the most difficult question: should some secrets remain buried, or is it necessary to uncover what her parents had carefully hidden for years?
“Don’t Change the Names” is a gripping, page-turning story with political layers, family conflicts, and a profound exploration of guilt and memory. It is a darker, more intense follow-up to Hakobyan’s debut novel, Cascade 6.15 (2021), which also became a bestseller.
Marianna Hakobyan is a journalist and candidate of philological sciences, as well as a member of the Writers’ Union. She spent 14 years as a television commentator for Public Television, ATV, and Armenia TV, has been a correspondent for the daily newspapers Aravot and Yerkir, and has served as a press secretary for state institutions.
The presentation of “Don’t Change the Names” will take place on February 7, 2026, at Dvin Music Hall, as part of Newmag Winterfest 2026. Admission is free, and the book will be available at a discounted price.
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Description
After her mother’s death, journalist Lucy discovers two folders hidden in her mother’s office. Inside are notes about an incident in a Baghramyan Avenue apartment in 1999—an episode that should have become a criminal case, but two decades later resurfaces under the shadow of the statute of limitations, scrambling everyone’s moves and motives. Lucy begins investigating, convinced she’s chasing a story. She doesn’t yet realize she’s walking into a legacy—one that will force her to inhabit her mother’s worst memories. Step by step, the trail pulls her back to the same building, the same address, and the same questions her family buried for years. What will she uncover when the investigation turns toward her parents and their dark past? Are her mother’s manuscripts fiction—or a disguised personal diary? And the hardest question of all: does Lucy have the right to know everything her parents fought to conceal? A fast-paced investigative novel where the heroine finds answers she never meant to seek—and pays the price of learning them.
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