Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Sandcastle Girls
    Unavailable
    The Sandcastle Girls
    Unavailable
    The Sandcastle Girls
    Ebook357 pages6 hours

    The Sandcastle Girls

    By Chris Bohjalian

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    A haunting love story set during the First World War amidst the horrors of the Armenian Genocide

    One woman's journey into her family's past reveals a shocking story that has never been told.

    1915, Aleppo, Syria.When Elizabeth Endicott steps off the boat from Boston, armed only with a crash course in nursing, nothing could have prepared her for the atrocities she is about to face. For Aleppo is the arrival point for the hundreds of thousands of Armenians who have been forced to march out of Turkey and through the desert to die.

    There Elizabeth gets to know Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter in the Genocide. When Armen travels to Egypt to join the British army, he begins to write to Elizabeth, and slowly realizes that, unless he can find his way back to her, he risks becoming lost forever.

    Present day, New York.Laura Petrosian has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought until an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a photo of Laura's grandmother advertising a museum exhibition. As Laura embarks on a journey back through her family's history she'll find a tale of love, loss - and the hidden story of a nation in mourning.

    'Chris Bohjalian is at his very finest in this searing story of love and war. I was mesmerized from page one. Bravo!' Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

    'The Sandcastle Girlsis deft, layered, eye-opening, and riveting. I was deeply moved." Wally Lamb, author of The Hour I First Believed

    'Powerful . . . Bohjalian's storytelling makes this a beautiful, frightening, and unforgettable read' Publishers' Weekly
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateAug 2, 2012
    ISBN9781471110733
    Unavailable
    The Sandcastle Girls
    Author

    Chris Bohjalian

    Chris Bohjalian is the author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers, Secrets of Eden, The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Midwives.  His work has been translated into twenty-six languages.  He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.   Visit him at www.chrisbohjalian.com or www.facebook.com .

    Related to The Sandcastle Girls

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Victoria Mas On The Mad Women’s Ball: ‘My Book Is A Fiction... But Terrible Things Really Happened To Women In Paris 200 Years Ago’

      Jun 18, 2021

      In the opening pages of Victoria Mas’s debut novel, The Mad Women’s Ball, a 16-year-old girl is hypnotised by a 65-year-old man. “Shoulders back, bosom forward, head held high,” the girl walks proudly into a lecture theatre at the Pitié-Salpêtrière h

      7 min read

    • Article

      For Snow Queens Who Have Considered Suicide Because Paul Newman in the First Twenty Minutes of Paris Blues Is Too Much

      Jun 14, 2022

      But I start with the great Sidney Poitier because his stardom was an established part of the Freedom movement in 1964, and he was to be the chaperone of my inner awakening that dramatic year. Indianapolis, my hometown, had some brave marches and two

      10 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Mahmoud, Davidson, and More

      Oct 26, 2021

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Doma Mahmoud, Craig Davidson, and more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Mahmoud, Davidson, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Lighter Side of Dan Chaon

      Apr 11, 2022

      I had a dystopian idea in the beginning, and in the end the dystopia caught up with me. The post The Lighter Side of Dan Chaon appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Last Waylon Party

      Jan 18, 2019

      The Last Waylon Party
      14 min read

    • Article

      Brother Robert

      Jan 8, 2021

      Brother Robert
      6 min read

    • Article

      Projections of Life

      Jun 1, 2023

      Projections of Life
      14 min read

    • Article

      Some Are Born Great…

      Mar 10, 2020

      Some Are Born Great…
      3 min read

    • Article

      Remembering Andy Pollitt

      Oct 2, 2023

      Remembering Andy Pollitt
      10 min read

    • Article

      In One Ear

      Mar 16, 2021

      In One Ear
      3 min read

    • Article

      Gene Simmons

      Apr 1, 2022

      EVERYBODY KNOWS GENE Simmons. Or at least, they think they know Gene Simmons. Kiss co-founder, blood-dribbler, tongue-waggler and possessor of one of rock’s biggest egos. But long before he became The Demon, he was Chaim Witz, a kid born in Israel an

      5 min read

    • Article

      Getaway Driver

      Feb 10, 2022

      Getaway Driver
      11 min read

    • Article

      Anything Goes For Me And My Chums

      Aug 25, 2021

      In my neck of the woods, it’s back to normal. How’s it with you? On the bus and the London Underground, I am still wearing a mask, but other than that, everything is much as it was before the pandemic struck – except that my office-worker friends rea

      3 min read

    • Article

      For the Union Dead

      Apr 6, 2020

      For the Union Dead
      17 min read

    • Article

      My So-called Cottage Life

      Jun 26, 2019

      My So-called Cottage Life
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Sandcastle Girls

    4/5

    557 ratings106 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I would have preferred if Bohjalian had skipped the narration in the current time and had the whole book been in the past with perhaps a follow-up at the end to tell you how the characters turned out. The dual narration broke up the story too much and took away from the main story of the genocide and the relationship between the two main characters.
    • 5/5
      A few years ago I traveled to Turkey and our Turkish guide spent quite a while in a candid conversation about the Armenian genocide. Chris Bohjailian's novel brings the events of 1915 to light using both present day characters and characters from the early 20th Century. The unnamed narrator is an Armenian/American novelist whose new book is going to be about the genocide that her family witnessed in Allepo. As the novelist researches her family history she finds some startling facts about her heritage. The depth of knowledge makes me wonder if this isn't somewhat autobiographical. I've enjoyed Bohjailian's writing for years and this is another winner.
    • 3/5
      The overall story was okay, but thought so much more could have been done with the ending. I liked the way the story alternated between present-day and the past and did like much of how it ended and all came together, but felt it was rushed. The framework of the story in the past was what I found most interesting. I was not previously aware of the genocide of the Armenian people and was glad the author put so much historical information from that time period into the story.
    • 5/5
      A beautifully told descriptive story that blended the past and the present with a piece of history that I for one was not aware of. It is an emotional journey of a story that happened many years ago and left me wondering the tales my ancestors could tell and the untold stories that have died with them. A true test of what the human spirit is able to endure and survive. I was emotionally connected to the people and this is a captivating read that I found hard to put down once started. Once again Chris Bohjalian has another winner that leaves you thinking about the book long after you reach the ending.
    • 4/5
      I have not read anything else by Chris Bohjalian but if this book is an indicator of the rest of his oevre then I will be reading more. I read this book because it was picked by my book club to read for October 2017. That's the great thing about belonging to a book club. You get introduced to books you would probably never pick up otherwise.In 1915 a father and his daughter travelled from Boston to Aleppo, Syria to take aid to Armenians who were being persecuted by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The Armenians were Christian but were ruled by the Muslim Ottoman Empire, When World War I broke out the Turks were allied with the Germans but some Armenians volunteered with the Russian army. The Turks instituted a policy of arresting and killing Armenian males and forcing the women, children and elderly to walk through the desert to Syria. The people who made it to Aleppo were in dire need of food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Mr. Endicott was a wealthy banker and his daughter, Elizabeth, was a recent college graduate who had received a crash course in nursing in Boston. The Friends of Armenia in Boston had raised funds to send food and medical aid to Aleppo and the Endicotts were there to make sure it reached the people in need. They were assissted in Aleppo by the American consul, two American doctors and a female missionary. The help they could give was very little in face of the need but they were determined to do what they could. One Armenian male, a railway engineer named Armen, was able to reach Aleppo relatively unscathed because he was helped by two German engineers. Armen had been separated from his wife and infant daughter in Armenia and he knew that they had been deported to Syria. Although he believed they were dead he was hoping to find someone who knew what had happened to them so he could find some closure. Elizabeth and Armen met in Aleppo and were instantly attracted to each other. Armen, however, felt that he could better serve his family and his country by volunteering with the British forces so he left Aleppo to try to get to Egypt. He and Elizabeth wrote to each other although the war made delivery of their correspondence problematic. The letters that got through cemented their feelings for each other. We know from the modern narrator of their story, who is their granddaughter, that they did reconnect, marry and live to old age but there are aspects to their love story that were family secrets until the granddaughter started researching. One of the clues was a photograph taken by the two German engineers who had befriended Armen. These two decided to document the condition of the Armenians who reached Aleppo by taking hundreds of photos. When their superiors found out the two were shipped to Gallipoli and their photographic plates were confiscated. The story of how their photographs were saved and taken to America forms part of this novel.Looking at the pictures taken of the Armenians in 1915 gives a feeling of deja vu. One hundred years later it is Syrians risking their lives to flee killing and warfare and we see pictures every night on the TV news. Plus ca change...
    • 5/5
      The Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian, is a beautifully written book about the Armenian genocide, which I knew very little about. The story is told in the present tense, through the use of a modern day narrator. The historical parts of the book are told using the characters of Armen and Elizabeth. Armen is an Armenian engineer who has survived the first of the death marches from Armenia to Syria. Elizabeth is a nurse with "Friends of Armenia," a charity that her father funds in Boston, Mass. I found the story so interesting that I read the book very quickly and then looked up more information on this genocide. Very well written, with great character development. The modern day narrations were not my favorite parts of the book, but I thought they were well done, and told in a different voice/tone than the historical parts of the novel.
    • 5/5
      An amazing novel about the Armenian Genocide in Turkey during WWI. And we continue to ask ourselves, "How can these things keep happening?" It must have been a very difficult novel for Bohjalian to write. It's certainly a very important novel for all of us to read.
    • 3/5
      This novel set during the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century was my most eagerly awaited book of the summer, and I wished I liked it better than I did. It is an important story, powerfully told, and I wonder if it would have had a greater impact on me if, like many readers, I was learning about the genocide for the first time. The story kept me turning the pages, and I did learn a lot that I didn't know, but for some reason in didn't engage my emotions. The central character of Elizabeth, an American humanitarian volunteer, did not breathe for me, and I did not believe in the love story between her and the Armenian engineer Armen. Because I didn't believe in the characters, the ending was not as poignant as it by rights should have been. A side story about an orphan girl interested me much more, and I wished it had been developed further. I would still recommend this book to other readers, because I do suspect that people confronting this horrific episode for the first time will react much more strongly to the book.
    • 4/5
      This is a very beautiful and terrible story. The Sandcastle Girls alternates between Aleppo Syria in 1915 and Bronxville, NY of 2012. The book highlights the author's Armenian heritage and as a reader you can feel his passion for the subject. Although the book highlights the terrible events of the genocide not often mentioned today, there is also a love story embedded. This combination carries the book and makes it an easier way to handle the brutality of the events. This is the second book I have read by Chris Bohjalian, and I have become a fan! This book is well worth the read Reader received a complimentary copy from Good Reads First Reads.
    • 5/5
      Chris is male, by the way, writing from a woman's perspective. And doing a very good job, too. I learned a lot from this book about the Armenian Genocide, and it was very well-written and well-characterized. Which sounds like I'm killing it with faint praise: after Practical Jean & Road to Valour, I'm getting a bit burnt out. Returned The Yellow Birds (Iraq War) to the library unread, though with good intentions of getting back to it. Next up: something light and fluffy, a palate cleanser. And fairly soon? More by Chris Bohjalian: this is the first I've even heard of him, and I've clearly been missing out.
    • 5/5
      I've long been a fan of Bohjalian's writing. His research is always thorough and used to profound literary effect. "The Sandcastle Girls" is a one of his finest, if not THE finest, display of that talent. It is perhaps, at least in part, because he has an Armenian heritage, and he's been thinking about this book for a very, very long time. This story is based on the 1915 genocide of the Armenian people in Syria--1.5 million dead. He does not sugar coat the graphic violence done to the living and the dead, nor does he flinch in describing how the few (the too few) survived. His story, the 1915 era part of it, is told through the eyes of Western aide workers as well as an Armenian engineer who lost his family, a woman who barely survived a forced and brutal march through the desert, and a small girl who witnessed the rape and beheading of both her mother and her sister. The later part of the story, set in more modern times, is told by the granddaughter of two of the earlier characters. This layered tale is a love story, a war story, a family story, a survivors story, and much, much more. It is moving, heartbreaking, and yet hopeful all at the same time. It will open eyes to a piece of history that is rarely talked about, and hopefully stir thoughts of similar atrocities still be committed around the world, perhaps leading to swifter action to end them.
    • 5/5
      The author uses the Armenian Genocide as the setting for his historical novel. During WWI, the Ottoman Empire sought the extermination of the Armenians within their homeland, which would be today part of Turkey. Men were massacred or died in forced labor. Many women and children died on death marches through the Syrian desert.

      The novel involves two timelines. The first is a love story between two with very different backgrounds. Elizabeth Endicott, a young woman from a wealthy Bostonian family, travels with the Friends of Armenia to what is currently Aleppo, Syria, to provide humanitarian aid to woman and children deportees. Shortly after her arrival she meets an Armenian engineer working with the German army, who lost his wife and daughter. During the next several years the two correspond while she remains in Allepo and he enlists with the British army to fight the Turks at Gallipoli. The second timeline involves Laura, the couples' granddaughter, a writer, who seeks to learn more about her grandparents beginnings and her Armenian heritage.

      Chris Bohjalian, a favorite author of mine, has used a variety of genres, to highlight specific social issues. His characters, especially the primary ones, are developed well. I became emotionally involved in this novel and learned much regarding another historical event of "man's humanity against man."
    • 2/5
      Story flips between contemporary and the 1915 Armenian genocide. The story needs to be told, but I thought the book was very disjointed in its approach.
    • 4/5
      I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. This book is the story of a woman who rediscovers her grandparents' lives during the Armenian genocide that occurred during World War I, interspersed with the stories of her grandparents during that time. I think it's a wonderful book about a difficult topic, and one that not many people are aware of. I have read several of Chris Bohjalian's earlier books and this one does not disappoint - the characters are well developed and the plot is interesting and easy to read, although it does not feel "light."I recommend this to other fans of historical fiction or Bohjalian, or to those looking to switch things up and read about a time and event that they probably haven't touched on before.
    • 4/5
      "How do a million and a half people die with nobody knowing? -- You kill them in the middle of nowhere."The Armenian Genocide began in 1915. It was the systematic elimination of the Armenian people by the Ottoman empire. It’s estimated that over a million people perished. This horrific slice of World History is not well known and that’s a tragedy in itself.In this fictional account, the story focuses on Elizabeth Endicott, a young American woman, being trained as a nurse. She arrives in Aleppo, Syria in 1915. She falls in love with a young Armenian engineer and begins to observe the tell-tale signs of an emerging holocaust.Bohjalian based this novel on his own Armenian heritage. I wished the narrative flow and the character development were stronger, but this is still a decent read and a solid introduction to a “lost” moment in time.
    • 5/5
      I love history, and that is one of the reasons that I have been a lifelong reader of historical romance. I know that some readers state that they want a romance, not a history lesson, but I think the two go hand-in-hand. The setting of the book, the era, culture, social mores, religious beliefs, fashion, art and literature of the times all affect the way the characters would develop as people. Therefore, they are very important elements of the story line details. I appreciate the amount of research and love of subject an author invests into a well-written historical romance. However, sometimes historical fiction which is touched with romance goes far beyond a personal love story. It brings into focus profound true events which reveal the ugliest, most vile aspects of human nature. Such a book is author Chris Bohjalian's "Sandcastle Girls", a devastating, ultimately rewarding tale told with great skill by a distinctive storytelling voice. Depicting the massive horror of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the story focuses on Elizabeth Endicott, a young Bostonian volunteer who travels to Syria seeking to provide aid to refugees who survived the slaughter. She meets Armen, a young Armenian man who lost his family in the genocide. Not expecting to fall in love, their surprising relationship eventually leads to marriage and a family of their own. Decades later, their granddaughter, Laura Petrosian is a novelist determined to uncover family secrets and to discover her true familial roots. "The Sandcastle Girls" will leave no reader untouched. The author tears us apart and then patches us back together with the power of his prose. He illuminates the reality of his own heritage with unforgettable characters and a soul-searing, shattering story line that will be impossible to remove from your thoughts. Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
    • 4/5
      This book alternates between the present day life of writer Laura and her grandmother Elizabeth Endicott. Laura is trying to uncover information about her grandparents’ life, specifically their involvement with the Armenian genocide. Elizabeth has just arrived in the city of Aleppo (Syria) where she has traveled to help the refugees of the Armenian genocide. Elizabeth becomes interested in Armen, an Armenian refugee who is looking for information on his "deceased" wife and infant daughter.I found this book to be fascinating. I knew of the Armenian genocide before reading this book, but I had no idea of the widespread scale and atrocities committed against the Armenian people. I wish the book had skipped the present-day. Laura's story was a bit boring in comparison to Elizabeth's adventures. I also thought the book shifted perspective at odd and random times. However, I enjoyed the characters, the story line and learning something new.
    • 4/5
      The story of the genocide of over one million Armenians by the Turks.Elizabeth arrives in Aleppo Syria with her father, doctors and supplies and food. She and her father are of Armenian descent and they do what they can do to help. She and Armen, an Armenian who has escaped the masacre fall in love. He goes off to fight but returns and they marry and come to the states. The storyteller is the great granddaughter.The movement from the present to the past becomes confusing at certain points and the romance overshadows the horror of the slaughter which I don't believe was the author's intent.
    • 4/5
      Very good!
    • 2/5
      This was an Early Reviewers book for me and I was very disappointed. I like this author and have read many of his books and enjoyed them.I was not familiar with the Armenian genocide which is central to the plot of this book. I believe that the author was on a mission to make his readers aware of the struggle of the Armenian population and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I guess I found the story of the twins pretty uninteresting and the moving back and forth in time (which often is such a great gimmick) just didn't work for me. Sometimes when the message overrides the story, it feels false. That was the case for me with this novel.I do think Mr. Bohjalian's writing is lovely.
    • 4/5
      The Sandcastle Girls is a novel that outlines the lives of several characters, both past and present, and how their lives were impacted by the Armenian Genocide in 1915.I was also among the readers who had never heard of the Armenian Genocide until I picked up this book. I was immediately drawn in to Elizabeth and Armen's story which took place predominately in Aleppo, Syria in 1915. Horrified by the things that had taken place there (and the fact that I had never even heard of it), I quickly began doing a little research online. I think it says a lot about an author when the story they are telling makes me want to research a topic further. Bohjalian takes a really difficult subject and sheds light on it in a way that is respectful and not overly dramatic. He doesn't add the violence and the gore for sake of shocking the reader, but he delicately weaves it throughout the story, giving us a gripping look into the horrors that took place there.If I had to give any criticism, it would be that the switching between the past and present story lines felt a bit jarring. I was so engrossed in the story taking place in Aleppo, that it made the current day narrative feel more like a disruption. While initially irritated by this, I began to realize that the author was intentionally trying to show how much time can dilute the events of history. Future generations sometimes end up with this watered-down view of what happened; for example, Laura knew that Turks and Armenians didn't like each other, but never fully understood the depth or magnitude of the circumstances behind it. That being said, even if it was intentional I was never able to fully connect with the present narrator. I found myself having to check the synopsis several times just to remember her name.Overall this was a very enjoyable book. Though the subject matter is at times difficult, the author tells the story with elegance and grace. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction.
    • 4/5
      The story was fascinating and because my husband's grandmother and uncle were genocide survivors and immigrated from Yerevan via Aleppo (with, characteristically, unspoken horrors in between) to Watertown, it was particularly interesting for me. I assume it was put together from a selection of historical facts gathered from first hand accounts. Because of this, much of the narrative rang true and images will stay with me for a long time. The story also went a long way in clarifying how World War 1 figured into the times. I was surprised to read that Germans were stationed in Syria, which brings up strong cause for thought. This should definitely be included in a list of books about the Armenian Genocide considering that the centennial anniversary is coming up soon. I appreciate the vast amount of research that must have been done and the excellent way it was weaved into a work of fiction. I wish I could have given it five stars but I found it not up to the writing level of literary fiction which tends to be the bar I use for comparison.
    • 4/5
      I don't know if I was sleeping during history class when this was covered, but I knew NOTHING about the Armenian genocide by the Turks at the start of WW I. This is another horrible episode in history where one group tries to completely annihilate another, including women and young children - 1.5 million Armenians were killed. The story alternates between 2 narrators, American writer Laura Petrosian and her grandmother, Elizabeth Endicott. Elizabeth is a blue-blood Bostonian who travels to Syria in 1915 as part of refugee aid program. She has recently graduated from Mt. Holyoke and is using this trip as a delay tactic from deciding what to do with her life (i.e. which rich young man should she marry). She is thrown from her sheltered environment into a world of human brutality that is shocking beyond belief and sees the devastation of women and children who were beaten and brutalized as they were marched across the desert. Listening to this book left me with images that I will not forget - there were a few parts of this book that brought me to tears. Very moving and an easy one to recommend.

      My only complaint about this book is the switching back and forth between the two points of view. Elizabeth Endicott is living through a genocide and the modern Laura deals with much more mundane issues. I found myself not caring or wanting to read about Laura's life. Maybe it added some comic relief to a tense subject but for me, it was a distraction.
    • 3/5
      Sandcastle Girls is Chris Bohjalian's latest book and probably his most passionate, emotional book to date. Inspired by his family's history, Sandcastle Girls follows young Laura Petrosian in modern day and Elizabeth Endicott, a young woman who travels to Syria to assist Armenian refugees in the early twentieth century. Through these women's stories, the reader learns a great deal about the Armenian genocide that occurred around World War I.Sandcastle Girls was a good novel, but I wasn't blown away by it. Perhaps the plot was a bit too close to home for Bohjalian this time. The back-and-forth plot between two time frames didn't work for me, and I just wanted to learn more about Elizabeth's plight (more so than Laura). All in all, I appreciate Bohjalian's passion and his elucidation of a little-known historical event, but I wouldn't recommend this book to a first-time reader to Bohjalian's fiction.
    • 5/5
      Best book of the year so far. Loved the way Bohjalian wove a love story into the fabric of the historically relevant but largely unknown Armenian genocide.
    • 4/5
      when I think of this book, all that comes to me is Karine. My heart aches for her suffering and yes there were millions but, they are all of them in the end... Karine.This is a heartbreaking story of a genocide I was not familiar with and for that reason alone a miracle and blessing Chris has written about it. This is a story no one should ever forget about, and on that note...This is a story about a young woman in 1915, Elizabeth Endicott who is traveling with her father to Aleppo to assist with the Armenian league of America with the thousands of refugees flooding into Syria from Turkey where a mass genocide is occurring.there are many intertwining stories in this book but the main one is about the love between Elizabeth, Armen and Karine It is in Aleppo that Elizabeth meets Armen, an Armenian engineer who has lost his wife and young daughter in the carnage. They begin tentatively to correspond when Armen goes to Egypt to join the British army and they slowly through their letters fall in love.This story will grab you by the short hairs and not let you go until you are either in tears or at the end of the book.
    • 4/5
      This story taught me something that as a student and teacher of history, I had very little knowledge of- the Armenian genocide. I was amazed by the depth of information and description the author brought forward in this novel. I have been a fan of Chris Bohjalian since I first read Midwives. He is a wonderful writer and I alsway look forward to his next novel. I think this might be his best. It is not a feel good story- but it is powerful and leaves a lasting impression.“When it seems you have nothing at all to live for, death is not especially frightening.”― Chris Bohjalian, The Sandcastle Girls This is a powerful historical novel about the Armenian Genocide. It takes place in two time periods- 1915 and the present. During 1915, we learn the story of Elizabeth Endicott, who has traveled from America to Aleppo with her father to administer humanitarian aid on behalf of the Friends of Armenia. There she meets and befriends Armen Petrosian, an Armenia who has lost his entire family, and is planning on fighting with the British forces against the Germans. The two fall in love and exchange of the genocide from both of their perspectives.The Sandcastle Girls is excellent depiction of this tragedy. Immediately after I finished, I went onto my computer to learn as much as I could about this event. I am thinking of reading it again, after I learn more.
    • 4/5
      The Sandcastle Girls. Chris Bohjalian. 2012. The Armenian Genocide[7] (Armenian:), also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, traditionally by Armenians, as the Great Crime (Armenian: Մեծ Եղեռն Medz Yeghern)[8][9] was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland in the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. It took place during and after World War I and was implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and forced labor, and the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert.[10][11] The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million. Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians, the Greeks and other minority groups were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government, and their treatment is considered by many historians to be part of the same genocidal policy. WikipediaI was vaguely aware of the Armenian Genocide, but did not know any details until I read this novel. Under the egis of The Friends of Armenia, and American woman goes to what is now Turkey to help the Armenians. She sends reports back to the Friends and letters to her friends and family describing the situation. She falls in love with an Armenian engineer who leaves to join the British army and is wounded at Gallipoli. Eventually they are married. Their granddaughter is the narrator.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book once the story got going, it had a slow start. It was about "The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About" (page 6), the genocide of Armenians in 1915. I have to admit, I knew nothing about this history, so I appreciated learning about it from this novel. It is a very moving story and the book is well written.
    • 4/5
      The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian is a starter book on the Armenian Slaughter. I first learned about it from a manager at work who is Armenian American. He told our group briefly about the genocide. After work, I went right to the Internet and looked up as much as I could about it. I read about the arrest and deportation of the intellectuals and leaders and the death marches through the desert. Having read that, I was really looking forward to this book.There are two things that bothered me. The book shifted back and forth in time from the time after one of the death marches through the desert to modern times. The other thing is that I wanted more historical detail in the book. There are loads of black and white pictures on the Internet but none in this book. There was more fiction than I wanted. I didn't really want a love story. So, I think that maybe what I really wanted in this situation is not a historical fiction book but a history book. So some of my objections are just personal preferences instead valid objections. I would have liked to start the fictional story of Nevart and Hatoun while they were on the death march. The characters that I loved in this book were Nevart and Hatoun. Nevart was a childless widow who had survived a terrible death march through the desert. The women's skin had been blacked and blistered by the sun; their clothes had been taken from them. Hatoun is the little girl that she unofficially adopted. I also liked the background information about the tragedy. The love story is well done but I didn't like coming back to modern times. I wanted to stay in that time period. The book is very readable. I did have to stop reading once in a while when reading because of the telling of about an atrocity. I would recommend this book to historical fiction readers and those who know nothing of this tragedy.I received this book from the Amazon Vine program and that in no way influenced my review.