Bouquet of Roses is, as described in the Introduction, a mixture of fact and fiction. Seven years have passed since its writing and with them both hopes and loves. Life is not so rosy and idealistic, unfortunately. Human nature, wrong choices, and the inevitable stream of events have a way of bulldozing through our lives to make them unpredictable at best and horrific at worst. Tragedy ever lurks in the dark corners of the human psyche.

Of the real characters in the book, Suszana never did in fact return home but remained with her second husband in her home country. Władysław and Maria remain unmarried, Władysław pursuing his own life abroad. Neither did Stanisław, Jr. or his mother Isabel who remains single to this day but on friendly terms with her husband. Jenny Stattin refused Stan's proposal of marriage and completely vanished. The real Królewiec family as a whole was heavily persecuted for its lifestyle and the real Stan had more than the 'blues', suffering a physical breakdown a few years later. In consequence of this and other complications, Kasia abandoned both her family and her faith, abducting their son Alexei, and vanished into her home country. Many hearts were broken.

The Królewiec family still exists and still practices plural marriage (which you can read about in the main website) but it is now very different from the depiction in Bouquet of Roses. Of the real wives in the book, only Kryztina and her children remain. The vision and the hope remain even if the pain, tragedy, poor health and the advancement of years have for the present dampened the original enthusaism.

We are all cut down to size by reality and discover that the human condition is far more pernicious than we ever dreamed. For plural marriage to work that condition must be entirely cut out otherwise it just surfaces later to wreck its evil destruction. In some ways Bouquet of Roses was naïve, in others it still represents a justifed idealism, an idealism which can only be realised when certain spiritual surgery has first taken place.

For this reason we absolutely do not recommend that you pursue a plural marriage lifestyle until those of you "who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and [ungodly] desires" (Galatians 5:24, NKJV). You may pretend you have done that but until you have done it for real, plural marriage will only bring you and your loved ones untold grief. Plural marriage is not some recreational sport (as moderns view sex) that you can just quit when you grow tired of it - it must be pursued with (1) total committment to the principle along with (2) total committment to Christ, (3) to everyone in the plural relationship, and to (4) crucifying the Adamic nature. Leave any one of these out and you are doomed. And if you are not sure about any of these then head for the hills!

We are convinced, more than ever before, that plural marriage can never just be a 'social convenience' (helping single women find good men in a world where there are fewer and fewer of them) or an alternative 'sexual option' (for lusty men who don't want to exercise self-control). All those who enter it must not only have divine approval but must understand that, in addition to its real benefits when lived righteously, it is a spiritual calling - like that of the Pastor in a congregation - to become a living incarnation of the Mystical Marriage of Messiah which will inspire others in their communal relationship to one another and to Christ in the local assemblies. Without that essential focus, plural marriage becomes egocentric and must in the end fail. There must, therefore, in addition to the romance, intimate fellowship, and all the other reasons that folks usually pursue this lifestyle for, be a high purpose - that answers the bigger question, What's the point? If you can't answer that, you can't really justify plural marriage. In our view, and with extreme urgency we say it, if you don't know, love, understand or want the principles of echad (oneness), don't pursue a plural marriage lifestyle.

Though sequels were planned for Bouquet of Roses (including, in darker moments, one called Bucket of Thistles), these are unlikely for the present to ever come to fruition. Things have changed, new foci have been given, new goals revealed, as we emphasise the deeper revelations to be found in the Books of Abraham. Will another novel or series of novels be written? Possibly but that will only be when the Królewiec family has again found its feet and the new spiritual fire, currently being kindled, has once more sprung into life and hearts are once again aflame in what we hope will be an even brighter light that was ever dreamed of in Bouquet of Roses.