I have very mixed feelings about The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. On one hand this is an unforgettable piece of historical fiction detailing the Armenian genocide by the Turks that occurred during World War 1. I was fascinated to learn more about this event and it’s setting. One of the things that I really missed was a map. The story involves forced marches and battles and a map would have helped define what I was reading about.

The story unfolds in two timelines which in this case I didn’t like. The story of Elizabeth, an American missionary and Armen, an Armenian who was searching for news about his wife and child, is set in 1915 was interesting and should have been allowed to stand alone. Instead the second story line involved Elizabeth’s granddaughter, Laura, who introduced herself as the author of the book. I found this story line redundant and often felt it was being used simply as a place to dump information.

The Sandcastle Girls is my first book by this author and although I didn’t love it, I will definitely read more from Bohjalian as his writing is strong and powerful. I only wish it hadn’t been delivered in the two story line format as I felt that took away from the “historical fiction” part of the story. ( )

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. ( )

I didn't care for the switching back and forth between first and third person. The novel was very choppy. However, it was a good story and I learned a lot about the Armenian genocide. ( )

What can one say. An incredible love story, discretely told, with a history lesson in the foreground
An incredibly engaging book, that I had a hard time leaving alone. I will be reading more about World War I and the Armenian history. ( )

Growing up in the immigrant stew that is the city of Chicago, I have hear of the Armenian massacre, but I never knew what it was about – until I read this book.

Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria in 1915 with her father {& a delegation of Americans representing The Friends of Armenia, to aid the Armenians who are being exterminated by the Ottoman Turks. She has just graduated from Mount Holyoke college, taken a crash course in nursing, and knows a smattering of Armenian. She will be working in the hospital with the refugees and also sending reports back to the Friends organization in Boston on the current situation.

Neither Elizabeth or her father are prepared for the desperate condition of the Armenian refugees, or for the barbarity of the Turks. Almost immediately she meets Armen, an Armenian engineer who is in Aleppo in search of his missing wife and daughter. She also meets an Armenian refugee woman, Nevart, and Hatoun, the psychologically damaged child she is trying to protect. Through these people, Elizabeth comes to truly understand the situation, and comes to love the people she is trying to help – especially Armen.

The story is told by Armen & Elizabeth’s granddaughter, a novelist, who uncovers her grandparent’s story almost by chance, discovering their secrets, some poignant and others tragic. ( )