Download or read book Valley of Roses written by Ben Stoltzfus and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Valley of Roses is a four-part novel and fictional memoir based on the narrator's flashbacks to a quasi-mythical country -- a garden of innocence and plenty that has been or will be ravaged by war. Aaron, an American, reflects on the happiness of earlier, idyllic times, and he relives his love for Zhivka, his friendship with Dimcho, separation, and the subsequent Communist takeover of Bulgaria. This is a novel about faith, politics, art and survival and it is composed of events and reminiscences that paint an ongoing picture of joy, loss and retrieval. Bulgaria is famous for its attar of roses that is distilled from the petals. The art of this fiction is distilled from life, and its love story is distilled from the heart when German forces occupied the Balkans during WWII and the loves, lives and friendships of Americans and Bulgarians were altered irrevocably.