The Sandcastle Girls

A Novel

By: Chris Bohjalian

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alison Fraser

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Over the course of his career, New York Times best-selling novelist Chris Bohjalian has taken readers on a spectacular array of journeys. Midwives brought us to an isolated Vermont farmhouse on an icy winter's night and a home birth gone tragically wrong. The Double Bind perfectly conjured the Roaring 20s on Long Island - and a young social worker's descent into madness. And Skeletons at the Feast chronicled the last six months of World War Two in Poland and Germany with nail-biting authenticity. As The Washington Post Book World has noted, Bohjalian writes "the sorts of books people stay awake all night to finish."

In his 15th book, The Sandcastle Girls, he brings us on a very different kind of journey. This 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.

When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to 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 to join the British Army in Egypt, 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.

Flash forward to the present, 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.

©2012 Chris Bohjalian (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The granddaughter of an Armenian and a Bostonian investigates the Armenian genocide, discovering that her grandmother took a guilty secret to her grave. . . . [An] unforgettable exposition of the still too-little-known facts of the Armenian genocide and its multigenerational consequences." ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"Chris Bohjalian is at his very finest in this searing story of love and war. I was mesmerized from page one. Bravo!" (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife)

;In his latest novel, master storyteller Chris Bohjalian explores the ways in which our ancestral past informs our contemporary lives--in ways we understand and ways that remain mysteriously out of reach.

The Sandcastle Girls is deft, layered, eye-opening, and riveting. I was deeply moved." (Wally Lamb)

Beautiful Story

What did you love best about The Sandcastle Girls?

The exotic location for the story was so phenomenal and interesting, I loved the multi-generational aspect as well.

What does Cassandra Campbell and Alison Fraser bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It was great to have two narrators with distinct voices record this story, clever.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction about places you don't usually read about.

Loved the story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I loved this story and would not hesitate to recommend it. The characters were interesting and well developed. I also learned some things that I didn't know about Armenian history which was an added bonus.

Storytime Treat you will Love

Profoundly moving book about family history and the Armenian genocide of 1915. I can't quit thinking about it. The book taught me things I didn't know, took me places I haven't been, and just felt very personal. I have a new author to add to my list (he isn't new, I just haven't read his books). There is one image that the author uses over and over to express the anguish of a little girl's soul that deeply moved me, and -from a literary sense- it was just perfect in its devastating simplicity. Also liked his note at the end, and the author interview. It sealed the deal on him for me when he mentioned that he was highly anticipating Toni Morrison's book Home that was published after his interview. I love the true melting pot vastness of American writers.

Great historical novel

I learned a great deal about the Armenian genocide. The novel was wonderful. Very sad in parts.

I liked it; I didn't love it.

Laura Petrosian, a novelist, begins to research her Armenian heritage and the story takes her back to 1915 when her grandmother, Elizabeth Endicott, traveled with a group of nurses from Boston, Mass. to provide aid to the refugees of Armenian genocide. Amid the horrors of the treatment and deaths of the Armenian women she falls in love with Arman, an engineer who travels to Egypt to join the British army. Amidst the chaos their love is kept alive through letters.

The rapes and starvation of the women are hard to read about and may be depressing for some. I wanted to love this novel like I loved Skeletons at the Feast , my favorite of Bohjalian's novels. I did like it but something was missing. It just did not come together like I think it should have. The story was simple and there was not much plot since it was obvious to me from the start how the story would turn out. Also the transitions from past to present were awkward. I think it would have been a better novel if it had been told totally in the past… but that's just me. The only other novel that I have read about the Armenian genocide was The Gendarme . I enjoyed it more because it was shocking and the story, as horrible as it was, was smoothly written and very believable.

Powerful!

Very powerful story about the Armenian genocide of 1915, a part of history I did not know much about. It was sad to listen to at times because of the horrific descriptions that I had to take a break for a day or two and then get back to it. Overall, it was well done with a bittersweet ending. The narration of this audio book was excellent.

heartbreaking and beautiful

I really loved this book. I did not know much about the Armenian genocide and this gives a glimpse into the torture those poor beautiful people endured. the characters come to life and pull at your heartstrings.

Wow! I learned so much about an unknown.

Wow! I winced through a part of this story which describes a brutal killing on a train but it just doesn't compare to the overall story of the Armenian Genocide, largely unknown to me. This historical fiction novel is well done and enlightens the reader about the Ottoman Empire's murder of more than 1.5 million Armenians by forcing them to march into the Syrian desert without food and water.

The story is told in two time settings:
A love story unfolds between Elizabeth an American who goes to Syria to provide medical attention to the Armenians. She meets Armen, an Armenian engineer who has lost his wife and child.

The current day Laura, a novelist who comes upon her grandparents letters and diaries in an Armenian History Museum in MA and begins to research the story of her family.

It was not as I expected

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend it to someone who likes history

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Sandcastle Girls?

The boldness of Elizabeth in dealing with the thiefs that took the supplies

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

This has not been one of my favorites.It does not move with a flow that makes you want to stop what you are doing to read it .I did finish it but with great difficulties.

Fabulous Book

A moving story. Two narrators worked very well. Bohjalian captures the broader picture of the extermination or Armenians in the early 20th Century while building a very personal story line. The brutality of governments toward innocent civilians plays out again and again, century after century. The author captures the futility of well meaning foreigner volunteers trying to make a difference. They do, but in small ways, which of course count. I highly recommend the book for the story and an education about the period.