The Knock at the Door
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In this riveting book, first-time author Margaret Ajemian Ahnert relates her mother's terrifying experiences as a young woman during the oft-overlooked Armenian genocide in ... Publishers Weekly This personal, homespun account by an American of Armenian descent interweaves two narratives in alternating chapters: Ahnert's mother Ester's firsthand description of coming-of-age during, and miraculously surviving, the Turkish-sponsored Armenian genocide of 1915, and the middle-aged author's own tender yet urgent reflections on her connection to the distant world of her 98-year-old mother. Ester's formidable personality, humor and abiding religious faith pervade Ahnert's debut, while the latter's fluid transcription of Ester's story provides a frank and searing testimony, as well as a vivid depiction of Armenian village life. While Ahnert's oral history doesn't offer a rigorous historical account or analysis of the systematic slaughter, but rather supplements works like Peter Balakian's The Burning Tigrisand Taner Akcam's A Shameful Act, its force lies in the interplay between the narratives of mother and daughter. Together, their stories realize in intimate but accessible terms the vagaries of historical memory and Ester's determination to tell the truth despite the understandable urge among some victims to forget in the face of an official policy of denial from Turkey that continues today.. (Apr.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Prologue xiiiA Paper Crown 1Early Memories 13The Bride has No Underwear On 31Growing Up in Amasia 36The Day My Father Died 59Signs of Unrest 67The Eternal Flame 80The Knock at the Door 87The Evil Eye 102Boud-a-Getchere 109Rockaway Beach 123Life with Shamil 131Eagle on a Perch 149The Escape 157Dinner with a Turk 178Journey to America 186Epilogue 198
