Bozidar: Redemption (ePub)

'Bozidar: Redemption' is a historical fiction that cuts across three turbulent generations of Yugoslavia (1944-93) and follows the trials and tribulations of the Bejic family. It also contains mystical elements and at times reads like a gripping thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat with its action-driven tale of the eternal fight between good and evil.

The story begins in 1944 with Europe ablaze in war and the indiscriminate brutality that comes with it. It is in the midst of this terror that Bozidar Bejic's bizarre birth and the ethereal consequences mark him as an infant destined to grow into a worldly mystic. His mother, Alya Bejic, raped as a young woman and left for dead, birthed him in a collapsed bomb shelter. The two of them survived for 40 days by consuming the body and soul of the Holy Sisters, who died in the same collapse.

Found after 20 days, Alya, considered insane, is taken to a camp, and the Holy order of Benedictine Sisters takes in the baby. As Bozidar grows, the Holy Sisters become aware of his intellectual prowess and spiritual transcendence.

Decades pass, and Bozidar's supernatural gifts and willingness to stand against oppressive communist governments create many enemies for him. Yet, he follows his conscience in caring for and protecting the Holy Sisters, and others, putting him high on Tito's wanted list. Slowly, his name and his other-worldly acts on behalf of the oppressed bring the word, Legend, to his name.

As the '90s approached, the breakup of Yugoslavia brought on a horrific civil war as Serbia invaded Bosnia with a genocidal agenda towards Muslims specifically and non-Serbs in general. Thus, the Bejic family is a target, in constant threat of imprisonment and extermination.

In 1993, Arianna Bejic, the gifted eldest Bejic daughter, trained as a surgeon and now practicing in Canada, resolves to act. She and her indigenous companion, Bobby Rafferty, leave Canada to locate and save her family. Bobby Rafferty is along because the troubled Arianna saved his life and his indigenous spirit now commits him to help her.

Bobby is a tortured soul, living with the brutalities of his past history, lost and desperate, until Arianna steps into his life, her morality, sense of purpose and personal troubles awakens the lost soul in Bobby and begins the journey into his own mortality and the depth of spirit hiding behind his rough exterior.

Arianna's strength of purpose had a powerful hold on Bobby. Arianna and Bobby are very different people, but somehow their individual differences slowly merge over time and experiences. They become as close as lovers can while still remaining celibate; theirs is an ethereal marriage - with room to grow.

Once in Bosnia, their journey confronts powerfully evil, unforeseen realities. These headwinds create deep character journeys for Arianna, Bobby, and the host of other characters in their struggle to survive. Those characters, all makes and models of diversity (religious, ethnic and social) welded together with one common agenda, stand against the evil, genocidal wave that seeks to consume them.

During this time, Bozidar, long since a phantom presence, brings himself and his powers overtly into the fray to protect the Bejics, the Holy Sisters, and all else he finds in need. The brutal onslaught of murder, rape, and genocide rage as Bozidar walks in judgment among the souls of the best and worst of humankind. And he's joined by the likes of Bobby, Adhem and Dubravko - men who connect with him on a deeper level and who have the potential to be the light in that darkness.
Tribulations at every turn, but yes, equally triumphant moments as the characters make metamorphous journeys from who they are to what they become.

There is nothing gratuitous about any of it - it happened, and this is their story.