BOHJALIAN’S ‘THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS’ TAKES THE LITERARY WORLD BY STORM
July 11, 2012WASHINGTON, DC – 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 23rd issue of People Magazine has spotlighted The Sandcastle Girls in its “Great Reads – New in Fiction” section 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. “Bohjalian (Midwives)—the grandson of Armenian survivors—pours passion, pride, and sadness into his tale of ethnic destruction and endurance,” noted EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum.
And the stellar reviews keep pouring in. Vermont’s Independent Voice, Seven Days, hailed the novel and labeled it as an innovative way to raise awareness for unrecognized human rights violations. “[G]enocide narratives from the point of view of the descendants will always resemble the reactions of visitors to a monument — sober, elegiac and respectful,” noted Seven Days. 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 both the author and the book, with excerpts posted on http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/the_sandcastle_girls
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 the Genocide Education Project, 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 at http://www.itsmyseat.com/ancawr.
Bohjalian will then be traveling to events in San Francisco, CA; Watertown, MA; Warwick, RI; New Milford, NJ and Washington, DC 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 at: http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/events.
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 the following sites or from their local book sellers.
Amazon.com | BN.com | Indiebound
Click here 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.