Book review from our Hopscotch family

Book review from our Hopscotch family: "Last night I finished reading "The Sandcastle Girls" by Chris Bohjalian. What an excellent, moving book. I wanted to keep reading, yet at the same time, the depictions of the Genocide were so horrific (and sadly, accurate), that I wanted to stop. An Armenian friend of mine made the following comment about this book, "It's really important for people to understand the depth of why Armenians feel so strongly about keeping their heritage alive." —RK

Meet the Author of "The Sandcastle Girls"

Friday, April 26 @ 7:30 PM
Where? St. Sahag & St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church
630 Clothier Road
Wynnewood, PA 19096
Adults $20 in advance $25 at door; Students $10

Download the Invitation (PDF)

Robin Sizemore shared, "I've read all of Chris Bohjalian's books and was thrilled to finally have a book that draws upon his own history. If you have not read the book, I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the Armenian genocide or simply loves a story with lots of twists!"

The Sandcastle Girls is a sweeping historical love story steeped in Chris Bohjalian's Armenian heritage.

When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash course in nursing,  and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language.  The year is 1915 and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to help deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide.  There Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter.  When Armen leaves Aleppo and travels south into Egypt to join the British army, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost.  Fast forward to the present day, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York.  Although her grandparents' ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed "The Ottoman Annex," Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura's grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family's history that reveals love, loss - and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.