The Sandcastle Girls

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 show more 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. show less

I received this book almost six months ago, but I haven't written the review until now because it was deeply, darkly disturbing to me. The story of very personal tragedies on Nazi-esque proportions was painful, but compelling. I could not put it down even as the mental images evoked by Bohjalian's clean, precise prose made it difficult for me to fully embrace the depth of the story. Those characters stayed with me a long time, and I found myself trapped in a cycle of torture porn as I read more about the Armenian genocide and what it meant in 1915, how it is virtually forgotten today.

I did have to go back and reread a few chapters because the story is told from the viewpoint of two women over three generations, which is a difficult show more device and not always done as well as it could be. show less

For all that this is a book that centers on a genocide, it's not very compelling. There are two stories told in parallel, neither of which I found particularly engaging. The primary story is the one that takes place during the 1915 Armenian genocide. It's the story of Elizabeth, a recent Mount Holyoke graduate who travels to Aleppo with her father on a mission of humanitarian relief (although in her father's case it seems to have more to do with making sure his money is being responsibly spent). In Aleppo, Elizabeth meets Armen, an Armenian engineer. Although Armen presumes that his wife and daughter are dead, victims of the Turkish transportation, he is in Aleppo hoping to find someone who accompanied them across the desert and can show more tell him what exactly happened to them. This might have made Armen a tragic and interesting character, except that he more or less abandons his quest the moment he meets Elizabeth. He is drawn to her because her cheekbones remind him of his wife's, and he falls in love with her almost instantly. The attraction is mutual, if not entirely believable, and the rest of the story is a foregone conclusion, and would be even if we did not already know the end of their story from their granddaughter.

The second story is told by Laura, Armen and Elizabeth's granddaughter, a writer who knows very little about her Armenian heritage (although, to be fair, she doesn't seem to know that much about her Boston Brahmin heritage either). She is drawn into researching her history when a friend forwards her a photograph of someone with her last name from an exhibition focusing on the Armenian genocide. Her story of discovering her grandparent's history is interesting, but lacks emotional heft, although that may be because I found her grandparent's story itself to also lack spark.

Put together, we get two stories, neither of which is adequately fleshed out. Perhaps if Bohjalian had chosen to tell a single story, there would have been more room to create a more fully-realized world, and fewer characters who are simply shadows (Elizabeth's father, Armen's wife, and so on). Likewise, if Bohjalian had chosen to tell only the historical story (adding the contemporary story seems like little more than self-indulgence on his part), he might have been able to actually help his readers understand more about the Genocide You Know Nothing About (as he has Laura call it). Instead, I found myself confused by how Syria figured into the Armenian story, what the Germans were doing there, and what the Turks had against the Armenians in the first place (though I suspect most of the Armenians were asking the same question) and unconvinced both by Armen and Elizabeth's love affair and by Laura's historical quest. show less

Elizabeth Endicott, fresh out of basic nursing training, arrives with her father in Aleppo, Syria, as part of a humanitarian effort to bring medical care and food supplies to besieged refugees. They were told that Armenian citizens are being deported to Syria from Turkey, but outside of the immediate region no one had any comprehension of the severity and shocking brutality of what was actually occurring. After meeting an Armenian man who has lost both his wife and daughter, Elizabeth becomes more invested in doing everything in her power to assist the Armenians and taking more of a personal stake in their fates.

In what I like to think of as welcome literary coincidence, within a day or two after I obliviously selected this novel to show more read, President Biden formally recognized the Armenian genocide for the first time since it occurred 1915-1917. I'm confident I would have enjoyed the story regardless, but knowing that definitely made it seem more poignant and relevant. It isn't far-fetched in hindsight to imagine the ways these annihilations likely inspired the Holocaust, and it's tragic that the rest of the world either didn't believe or didn't take seriously at that time what truly had happened. show less

Elizabeth Endicott travels with her wealthy father to help deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian Genocide during World War I. There she meets and falls in love with a young Armenian, Armen, who has lost his wife and daughter.
The book is a haunting study of a shameful chapter in history that has been swept under the rug, told through the framework of Elizabeth's and Armen's relationship, and through their eyes, and the eyes of others they come into contact with.
The characters are well-drawn, the scenes are horrific, and the history is well researched, as Elizabeth and Armen's granddaughter researches their lives.

Audio book performed by Cassandra Campbell and Alison Fraser.

Elizabeth Endicott is a wealthy young American who accompanies her father to Aleppo Syria in 1915 to bring food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian Genocide. The scenes she witnesses are so horrific they are almost unbelievable. Shortly after arriving she meets Armen, a young Armenian engineer whose wife and daughter have died in the war. They develop a connection, but he is compelled to join the British Army and fight against the Germans and Turks. They write to one another, realizing their love, but frustrated with the realities of war-time correspondence to-and-from a combat zone.

Some ninety years later, their American granddaughter, Laura, begins researching her show more family’s history, uncovering the story of her grandparents’ love, losses, regrets and secrets.

The novel is told in alternating time frames. Laura’s present-day story is written in first person, allowing the reader to discover her family’s story as Laura uncovers it. The World War I story is told in third person, slowly revealing the characters, their motivations, reactions and thoughts as they experience the horrors of war. Both are compelling story arcs and Bohjalian moves from present to past and back again seamlessly.

I loved how sensitive Laura was to the story she uncovered, how excited she became as she learned more and found new sources of information, how she was stricken by grief on learning what had happened to so many “nameless” people, how determined she was to uncover the truth and bring the story to light. I connected to her and her interest became mine. The war story was compelling and horrifying, but Bohjalian’s characters behaved with integrity and the best intentions. Did they regret any of their decisions? Perhaps. But in the same circumstances could they (or I) have done any better? My only regret is that the novel is finished. I want to go back and re-read it.

Cassandra Campbell and Alison Fraser do a wonderful job performing the audio version. Having two narrators made it very easy to tell which time frame I was in. I’m not sure which of these talented voice artists narrated the World War I story, but she had the more difficult task because of the many characters of different nationalities and with different accents. The audio version also has a bonus interview with Bohjalian. show less

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 show more 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. show less