Ohanesian Book Tour to Visit Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois

Aline Ohanesian on National Public Radio: ‘There’s only about six to eight inches between an open book and a human being’s heart.’

NEW YORK—Algonquin Books is thrilled with the successful launch of Armenian author Aline Ohanesian’s debut novel, Orhan’s Inheritance. Every year there’s an exceptional debut novel that catches everyone’s attention and Orhan’s Inheritance is that breakout book for 2015.

Elle Magazine hailed it as an important literary work, praising it as “rich, tragic, compelling, and realized with deep care and insight.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described it as an “impressive debut novel… Such sorrow in Ohanesian’s hands is not a heavy burden for the reader. Through the beauty and humanity of her central characters, the story transcends suffering… ‘A white day sheds light; a dark day sheds darkness,’ Orhan tells Seda on his first visit. Ohanesian’s novel is that ‘white day.’” Reviewers called it a “multigenerational page turner of an epic saga” (Christian Science Monitor) and “a remarkable debut novel that exhibits an impressive grasp of history as well as narrative intensity and vivid prose” (Minneapolis Star Tribune). National media attention continues with forthcoming reviews in the New York Times Book Review and Entertainment Weekly.

Orhan’s Inheritance has been selected by the independent bookselling community as the #1 Indie Next pick for April and by Barnes & Noble (in a unanimous vote!) for their Discover Great New Voices program. Amazon selected it as their featured debut title for April.

Independent bookstores around the country, such as Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham and Village Books in Bellingham, have selected it for their First Editions programs, and featured it prominently in-store and on their websites.

Upcoming public events

Aline Ohanesian will be completing her nationwide book tour on the east coast in May, with public events on:

Wed., May 13 at 12 p.m.

Bank Square Books

Luncheon and signing

Location: 53 W. Main Street, Mystic, CT 06355

*Luncheon event open to the public; RSVP required. Call (860) 536-3795 for more information.

Wed., May 13 at 7 p.m.

RJ Julia

Reading and signing

Location: 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, CT 06443

*Free and open to the public.

Thurs., May 14 at 7 p.m.

Porter Square Books

Reading and signing

Location: 25 White St, Cambridge, MA 02140

*Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Armenian Cultural Foundation and Armenian International Women’s Association.

Fri., May 15 at 12 p.m.

Highland Park Public Library

Brown bag lunch series

Location: 494 Laurel Ave, Highland Park, IL 60035

*Free and open to the public. Guests are welcome to bring their own brown bag lunch to the event, and the library will provide baked goods, tea, and lemonade.

Fri., May 15 at 7 p.m.

The Bookstall

Reading and signing

Location: 11 Elm St, Winnetka, IL 60093

*Free and open to the public.

Ohanesian was a finalist for the prestigious PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction, founded by Barbara Kingsolver. A descendant of genocide survivors, Ohanesian drew inspiration for her novel from her great-grandmother’s harrowing escape from Turkey during the genocide. She spent six years researching the novel and traveling to the region of the Ottoman Empire known as Sepastia to Armenians (and Sivas to Turks), where the novel takes place. Not only is Orhan’s Inheritance a profoundly moving and beautiful story, but it also gives voice to millions of silent victims and a forgotten part of our history.

In Orhan’s Inheritance, main character Orhan Turkoglu’s grandfather passes away, and when he returns to the village of Karod, in Sivas, for the funeral he discovers that his grandfather left the family home to a total stranger, Seda Melkonian, in a Los Angeles nursing home. Left with only Kemal’s ancient sketchbook and intent on righting this injustice, Orhan boards a plane to Los Angeles. There he not only unearths the story that Seda so closely guards but discovers that Seda’s past now threatens to unravel his future.

Her story, if told, has the power to forever change the way Orhan sees himself, his family, and his country. Moving back and forth in time, between the last years of the Ottoman Empire and the 1990’s, Orhan’s Inheritance is a story of passionate love, unspeakable horrors, incredible resilience, and the hidden stories that can haunt a family for generations.

Orhan’s Inheritance is published by Algonquin Books, a division of Workman Publishing. It’s available for purchase wherever books are sold in retail locations and online.