During Guatemala's recent civil war, the CIA-advised army wiped out hundreds of Mayan villages. This is the story of one woman, Maria's struggle to save her village, and her sister Brenda's efforts to live normally after being raped and tortured by CIA-advised intelligence officers in El Salvador. It is a story of courage, bravery, and unrelenting faith that there is a future.

"The character of Brenda, who is one of the Roses in the title of this fact-based novel, is modeled on a tri-lingual Mayan friend. Other friends survived torture by several U.S.-backed regimes in Latin America. I wrote the book for them, for the voiceless millions on the receiving end of ill-considered U.S. power, and for my beloved country, which can do better."