The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

 “The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About” is the tragic historical event upon which the novel The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian is based.  In the year 1915, one and a half million Armenian Christians were slaughtered in an ethnic genocide led by the Turks who began the killings under the false premise that the Turkish border to Armenia was vulnerable to attack.  It was WWI and the Turkish had sided with the Germans with the intent of controlling all of Europe and perhaps the world.  The “preemptive cleansing” began with firing squads in towns all along the border of Turkey, but it escalated to mind boggling cruelty, butchery and unbelievable savage indifference toward the women and children who were marched across the desert with little or no food and water and left in mass graves, the sandcastles it would seem.  The story is told from the perspective of a “modern day” writer who chose to investigate her grandparent’s history.  The story of Elizabeth and Armen is a heart wrenching tale of love and loss and determination and strength.  Bohjalian manages to relate the horrors of this time with clarity and yet shows the reader that there is no absolute even in war.  Even in the heart of darkness, you can find light in people who resist, who try to right wrongs and who are determined to show some kindness and love.  I really learned much about a time in modern history that I knew next to nothing about. Some in our group were overwhelmed by the ugliness of the storyline, but agreed it was an important read.  Not for the faint of heart, but a book that will give you much to think about.  As we know, we are bound to make the same mistakes if we do not learn from the past.  Awareness is the key.