Valley of Steel
by By King, Ivan
Category: Fiction , Coming of Age

Fate can be unkind. Would you dare to look back and risk her wrath? When you’re a child of the favela, in the Valley of Steel, you know that Fate comes like a whirlwind, lifting some to great heights and slapping others down with no reason. Ivan, rescued first from an orphanage in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and then from the bleak streets of Ipatinga in Brazil’s Valley of Steel, has been favored by Fate. When a call from Brazil interrupts his privileged life in America, he learns his best friend has committed suicide in the rugged Valley of Steel and only he knows the real reasons why. This is the story of one man’s journey home after a self-inflicted exile. The story of a boy who saw more than any child should, and the man he grew into—and how that man came back to the Valley of Steel to avenge his childhood and stare down the demons of his past. It is a story of survival, redemption, and joy. Of childhood memories that burn in the soul—and what happens when one man has courage enough to fan the flames and face the fire.