Library Journal
June 1 2012

Fiction Reviews, June 1, 2012

BY LJ REVIEWS ON JUNE 1, 2012

Bohjalian, Chris. The Sandcastle Girls. Doubleday. Jul. 2012. c.320p.
ISBN 9780385534796. $25.95. F

Repeatedly (and embarrassingly accurately) referred to here as `The
Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About,’ the Armenian genocide of
1915-16 takes center stage in Bohjalian’s (The Night Strangers)
intergenerational novel. Elizabeth Endicott, a recent Mount Holyoke
graduate, accompanies her Bostonian banker father on his philanthropic
mission to Aleppo, Syria, to aid Armenian refugees fleeing atrocities
committed by the Ottoman government. Her friendship with Armenian
engineer Armen, who has lost his wife and baby daughter, flourishes
when they are apart and can only communicate in letters. Years later,
Laura Petrosian, seeking out a photograph of a woman rumored to be her
Armenian grandmother, uncovers these letters among a wealth of
documents – a treasure trove for an Armenian American novelist searching
for pieces of her family history.

VERDICT Bohjalian powerfully narrates an intricately nuanced romance
with a complicated historical event at the forefront. With the
centennial of the Armenian genocide fast approaching, this is not to
be missed. Simply astounding. – Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA

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