In this riveting book, first-time author Margaret Ajemian Ahnert relates her mother’s terrifying experiences as a young woman during the oft-overlooked Armenian genocide in Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1915, Armenian Christians in Turkey were forced to convert to Islam, barred from speaking their language, and often driven out of their homes as the Turkish army embarked on a widespread campaign of intimidation and murder.

At age 15, Ahnert’s mother was separated from her foster family during a forced march away from her birth town of Amasia. She narrowly avoided kidnapping, faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of soldiers, and was forcibly married to an abusive Turkish wagon-driver. Throughout her ordeal, she reminded herself that “this, too, will pass,” a mantra which enabled her to survive these nightmarish experiences. Eventually, she escaped captivity and was able to make her way to America.

Ahnert’s moving account of her mother’s suffering is framed by an intimate portrait of her relationship with her 98-year old mother. The reader sits with Ahnert in the Armenian old age home as she cares for her mother and listens to the sometimes awful, occasionally funny, and always inspiring stories of her mother’s turbulent life during a terrible period in human history.

About: Margaret Ajemian Ahnert

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825305122)

Paperback: $15.95 (ISBN: 9780825306839)

E-book: $14.99 (ISBN: 9780825305535)

Memoir/ Biography

240 pages

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