Growing up in the immigrant stew that is the city of Chicago, I have hear of the Armenian massacre, but I never knew what it was about – until I read this book.

Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria in 1915 with her father {& a delegation of Americans representing The Friends of Armenia, to aid the Armenians who are being exterminated by the Ottoman Turks. She has just graduated from Mount Holyoke college, taken a crash course in nursing, and knows a smattering of Armenian. She will be working in the hospital with the refugees and also sending reports back to the Friends organization in Boston on the current situation.

Neither Elizabeth or her father are prepared for the desperate condition of the Armenian refugees, or for the barbarity of the Turks. Almost immediately she meets Armen, an Armenian engineer who is in Aleppo in search of his missing wife and daughter. She also meets an Armenian refugee woman, Nevart, and Hatoun, the psychologically damaged child she is trying to protect. Through these people, Elizabeth comes to truly understand the situation, and comes to love the people she is trying to help – especially Armen.

The story is told by Armen & Elizabeth’s granddaughter, a novelist, who uncovers her grandparent’s story almost by chance, discovering their secrets, some poignant and others tragic. ( )

Anything I might say to explain why I think this book is amazing would be inadequate. So read it, and while you are reading say a prayer for those who, right at this very moment, are living under the threat of genocide. ( )

I liked this book, as I do most of Chris Bohjalian's books. I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide and therefore it was informative read. The story is engaging and the characters interesting and likable. ( )

Do not be deceived by the cover or title. This book is not a light romance or beach read. It is historical fiction about the Armenian Genocide in Turkey in 1915. The plot revolves around a set of photos of the refugees taken by German soldiers that are confiscated but resurface many years later. It is told in dual timeline, with the vast majority set in Syria, where the Armenian refugees had arrived after their horrific march through the Turkish desert. The modern timeline is set in 2012, with the granddaughter of the protagonist researching and writing her family’s history.

As may be expected in a book about genocide, it contains a great deal of disturbing content – gruesome descriptions of beheadings, rape, starvation, harm to children, and other cruelties. I think the author does a good job of balancing the narrative with other topics, such as the investigation of the family’s history and the question of what happened to the photos. The portion set in the past is the more effective of the two timelines. It is a historical story well-told.
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Another author who can be trusted not to disappoint. I was ashamed to say that I was totally unaware of the fate of the Armenians. Bohjalian made this a very personal piece of history that painted a real picture of the horrors of the time tempered by the beautifully drawn story of its two principle characters. It will go on my bookshelf at home that houses books I will enjoy reading again someday. ( )