Chris Bohjalian new masterpiece about the Armenian Genocide takes the literary world by storm
BY CARINA KHANJIAN
WASHINGTON—From People Magazine to Entertainment Weekly, New York Times Bestselling author Chris Bohjalian’s upcoming novel on the Armenian Genocide, The Sandcastle Girls, has made a splash in the literary and arts world even before hitting the shelves on July 17th.
The upcoming July 23 issue of People Magazine has spotlighted The Sandcastle Girls in its “Great Reads – New in Fiction” and described it as “an affecting tale set at the time of a lesser-known Holocaust, 1915’s Armenian genocide.”
Entertainment Weekly (EW) included the novel on their summer must-read list. “The Storytelling structure is precariously ornate in this ardent historical romance The Sandcastle Girls, grounded in a real-life tragedy known by too few, the Armenian genocide of 1915,” noted EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum.
Vermont’s Independent Voice, Seven Days, book review acclaimed the novel and labeled it as an innovative way to raise awareness for unrecognized human rights violations. “Perhaps genocide narratives from the point of view of the descendants will always resemble the reactions of visitors to a monument — sober, elegiac and respectful. The review further reiterated the novel’s role in humanizing the events of 1915. “At the opening of the novel, Laura reflects that Americans could benefit from a book called The Armenian Genocide for Dummies. Indeed, many of us could — but a fiction like Bohjalian’s, with its power to reach legions of readers, may be far more valuable.”
The powerhouse literary review publications – Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Booklist – have collectively offered exceptional praise for the author and the book. Read an exclusive excerpt.
On July 16th, The Sandcastle Girls will take center stage with a special Southern California kick-off luncheon with the author at the Universal Sheraton Hotel, hosted by the ANC-Grassroots Film and the Arts Committee and GenEd, followed by an evening presentation held at Woodbury University Fletcher Jones Auditorium. Tickets for the luncheon are available through the ANCA-Western Region office at (818) 500-1918 or online.
Bohjalian will then be traveling to events in San Francisco, Watertown, Mass.; Warwick, RI; New Milford, NJ and Washington, where his Capitol Hill debut is co-hosted by Congressional Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsors, Representatives Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA). Bohjalian will be meeting with Congressional members throughout the day on August 1 and then offering remarks and signing books beginning at 6 p.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-369.
The complete roster of events across the country is available online.
In his 15th book, The Sandcastle Girls, Bohjalian brings us on a very different kind of journey. The spellbinding tale travels between Aleppo, Syria in 1915 and Bronxville, New York in 2012 – a sweeping historical love story steeped in the author’s Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date.
Armenian Americans and interested readers are encouraged to pre-order ‘The Sandcastle Girls’ online at discounted prices from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and Indibound or from their local book sellers.
To join the ANCA in helping put “The Sandcastle Girls” on the Congressional summer reading list through a contribution to the ANCA Endowment donate-a-book program.
So this book is fiction? Why need to have fiction when they’re are many true stories?
Gary, there are those in the literary community who say if you want to know the facts, read a newspaper, but if you want to know the truth, read a novel.