Time of Parting

Set in the seventeenth century, in the fiercely beautiful Rhodope Mountains, Time of Parting tells of the tragic fate of the Bulgarian people, who, after titanic struggle, are forced by the invading Turks to give up their Christian faith and accept Islam.The struggle, however, is not one primarily of religion, but of brotherhood, and as it mounts in horror, with the Turks resorting finally to ruthless torture, rape, and massacre, each man must choose on which side he will stand. And yet, for all the cruelty of which Anton Donchev shows men capable, the dominant mood of his novel, expressed through his unquestionably superb and poetic language, is one of lyric hope and reconciliation. Among other things, woven through Time of Parting is one of the most unusual and poignant love stories in all of modern fiction. [From the dust jacket]