This is a funny and woeful story, resembling an old Jewish anecdote, aiming to wrap a comical framework around the dark side of life. At the time, the poorest neighborhood of Plovdiv (an ancient town in Bulgaria) represented a unique European recess, a realm of perfect ethnic harmony among Bulgarians, Armenians, Turks, Jews, Gypsies and Greeks. A priest, a rabbi and a hodjah and an Antichrist nicknamed the Boozer are smitten with the same full-bosomed Turkish woman. Along with their rivalry, squabbles and good fellowship a Jewish boy and an Armenian girl fall in love for the first time. The political winds of the era will blow away the idyll separating the 12-year-old lovers. After many years, the Jew and the Armenian woman meet again in a different world.—Georgi Djulgerov <[email protected]>