Sunday, May 15, 2011

Skylark Farm

Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan
translated by Geoffrey Brock


Winner of the 2004 Premio Campiello (a prestigious Italian literary prize), this debut novel by a former professor of modern and contemporary literature at the University of Padua tells the story of one family during the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey.

Based on the author’s own family history, Skylark Farm is written with immense sensitivity. The author treats the subject as well as her readers with care, ever mindful of their tolerance for violence. One of the things that makes the novel stand out is that despite the horrific subject matter, Skylark Farm also manages to be part adventure story as it chronicles the escapades of the family’s would-be rescuers.
disclosure: I received an advanced copy of this book to review for Library Journal when the book came out a few years ago. As far as I know the review never appeared in periodical.

2 comments:

  1. This sounds fascinating. I really don't know anything about the Armenian genocide other than that it happened. I like that the author was so thoughtful and careful about the subject.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's definitely a title worth checking out.

    ReplyDelete