Stealing Benefacio's Roses cover art

Stealing Benefacio's Roses

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Stealing Benefacio's Roses

By: Martín Prechtel
Narrated by: Martín Prechtel
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About this listen

Following the acclaimed Secrets of the Talking Jaguar and Long Life, Honey in the Heart, this is an expansive lyrical novel in the tradition of Indigenous oral storytelling.

Based on the author's many years of living in a Guatemalan village, Stealing Benefacio's Roses interweaves dramatic recountings of village life and the political horrors of civil war with lyric retellings of sacred Mayan myths. The story shifts expertly from timeless, with archetypal characters like Raggedy Boy and the goddess known as the Water-Skirted Beauty, to timely in the book's striking first-person narrative set in the 1980s. Prechtel shows how ancient myths can become a part of life for everyone and help nurture spiritual survival in the modern world. Though it comes third in sequence with the author's other two books, Stealing Benefacio's Roses also stands on its own as a classic work of spiritual seeking and adventure.

©2021 Martín Prechtel (P)2021 North Atlantic Books Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary World Literature Magic Native American Village Heartfelt Mythology

Critic Reviews

"Once in a decade you read a book that, for a time, renders all other books irrelevant, trivial or extraneous - Stealing Benefacio's Roses is one of these peak moments in recent literature." (Richard Grossinger)
All stars
Most relevant  
Cycles rolling through again and again, different and the same. Read by the author who lived some of it and was gifted the rest.

Rich and enrichening, involved and involving, this story is like a long swim in a lake.

A story bigger than the earth's surface.

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What a beautiful blessing to listen to this incredible book. Martin Prechtel is a gem!

Absolutely in love with this book

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.