The paperback of his new novel, THE LIONESS, roars May 2, and is already in development for a limited TV series. His work has been translated into 35 languages and become three movies and an Emmy-nominated TV series. 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.Ĭhris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 24 books. Although her grandparents' ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed 'The Ottoman Annex,' Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. 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.įast forward to the present day, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. There Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter.

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. 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 Sandcastle Girls is a sweeping historical love story steeped in Chris Bohjalian's Armenian heritage.

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian