Revised Edition of Edgarian’s Bestselling ‘Rise the Euphrates’ Published to Mark Centennial

Narrative Library recently announced the release of the 20^th anniversary edition of Carol Edgarian’s critically acclaimed bestselling first novel, Rise the Euphrates, revised with an introduction by the author. The publication coincides with the Centennial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. When Rise the Euphrates was published 20 years ago, the Chicago Tribune called it “a beautiful and generous book” and named it the best debut of the year. The book went on to receive the 1994 Armenian National Committee Freedom Award.

Set in our time, Rise the Euphrates reaches back to 1915 Armenia when 9-year-old Casard watches the Turks slaughter her family and hundreds of other Armenians. On a death march through the desert to the Euphrates River, the child witnesses her mother’s death and experiences a betrayal so profound that she forgets her name.
Casard immigrates to America and puts the unspeakable past behind her; yet as the years pass, she infuses her only daughter, Araxie, with a legacy of anger and shame. Araxie willfully marries outside the clan, making her husband and their children odar—outsiders. It falls to the next generation, Casard’s granddaughter, to heal the family.