Calvin Vraa

When the Warflowers Bloomed Calvin Vraa First edition

When the Warflowers Bloomed is a story of courage and devotion in the ashes of the aftermath of World War II. Lusty, tough-minded infantry commander, Mark Brayden, still alive because of his instincts, liberates a Nazi concentration camp and discovers a wasted Liese Weissman dying of starvation and brutality, a previously sensuous, pampered Dresden musician, yet alive because of her dreams. Their instincts and dreams touch in a dramatic moment of awakening passions despite the horrors and nightmares of the war and the camps. Mark is forced into a life and death struggle to decide who will live and who will die. Thus, continues a vivid story of desperation and love in the rubble of Germany during the summer and autumn of 1945. They are joined by a coterie of GIs, Germans, and refugees. The ensemble includes ex-Nazis Klaus Trummer and Hannah Grinze, who plot against them, and an unlikely pair of Sergeant "Tork" Torkelson, son of a backcountry preacher, and voluptuous, guilt-ridden Heidi Koenig, a former Hitler Youth. All struggle against the destruction, betrayal, and regulations in the fragile postwar peace.