Orhan's Inheritance (Paperback)
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Staff Reviews
This is a beautiful novel whose setting and politics are not as well known to many of us. From pre-World War I to contemporary times we meet the Turkish family of Orhan. It opens with the death of Kemal, his grandfather, who before his horrible death, left his inheritance to an old Armenian woman now living in the United States. What should have been a great future for Orhan is now in jeopardy and because of that he travels to Los Angeles to meet this woman who could deny him what he always believed would be his. In this new world the Turkish and Armenian cultures clash anew with a story that his deeply moving.
— From Rita's PicksDescription
When Orhan’s brilliant and eccentric grandfather, Kemal Türkoglu, who built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs, is found dead, submerged in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits the decades-old business. But Kemal has left the family estate to a stranger thousands of miles away, an aging woman in a retirement home in Los Angeles. Intent on righting this injustice, Orhan unearths a story that, if told, has the power to undo the legacy upon which Orhan’s family is built, a story that could unravel his own future.
“Breathtaking and expansive . . . Proof that the past can sometimes rewrite the future.” —Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train
“Stunning . . . At turns both subtle and transcendent.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“To take the tumultuous history of Turks and Armenians in the early part of this century, and to tell the stories of families and lovers from the small everyday moments of life to the terrible journeys of death, to make a novel so engrossing and keep us awake—that is an accomplishment, and Aline Ohanesian’s first novel is such a wonderful accomplishment.” —Susan Straight, author of Highwire Moon
“Rich, tragic, compelling, and realized with deep care and insight.” —Elle
“A book with a mission, giving a voice to history’s silent victims.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Orhan’s Inheritance illuminates human nature while portraying a devastating time in history . . . A remarkable debut novel that exhibits an impressive grasp of history as well as narrative intensity and vivid prose.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A remarkable debut from an important new voice. It tells us things we thought we knew and shows us we had no idea. Beautiful and terrible and, finally, indelible.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Queen of America
About the Author
Aline Ohanesian's great-grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Her history was the kernel for the story that Ohanesian tells in her first novel, Orhan's Inheritance. Ohanesian was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Fiction and Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers. Born in Northridge, California, she lives and writes in San Juan Capistrano, California, with her husband and two young sons. Her website is www.alineohanesian.com.