Three Apples Fell From Heaven

During World War I, over a million Armenians living in Turkey died, disappeared or were deported. To many, it is the first twentieth century example of genocide. Leaving the steam and gossip of the hamam, the conversation under the trees, the whole life under the Ottoman Turks, the Armenian people of this novel begin their terrible journey: Anaguil, an Armenian girl taken in by Turkish neighbours, who views the remains of her world through a Muslim Veil; Sargis, a poet hidden in his mother's attic, wearing women's clothes and slowly going mad; Lucine, a servant and lover of the American consul, reviled by villagers for the illusory privilege she enjoys; and Dickran, a tiny infant left under a tree, who dies with his name unrecorded. Through these lives, we witness the vanishing of a people.