Valley of Roses

About the Book

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.

About the Author

Ben Stoltzfus is a novelist, translator, retired professor and literary critic. Valley of Roses is his fourth novel. He lives with his artist wife, Judith Palmer, in Riverside, California.

Other Books by Ben Stoltzfus:

Novels:

• The Eye of the Needle
• Black Lazarus
• Red White and Blue
• Translations
• La Belle Captive
• Monographs
• Gide's Eagles
• Alain Robbe-Grillet
• Lacan and Literature