Publisher's Synopsis
"Who She Left Behind" is a captivating historical fiction novel that spans multiple generations and delves into the emotional lives of its characters.
Set in various time periods, from the declining days of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey in 1915 to the Armenian neighborhoods of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the 1990s, the novel completely immerses its reader in a lesser-known era and the untold stories of the brave and resilient women who became the pillars of reconstructed communities after the Armenian Genocide. It is a story of survival, motherhood, love, and redemption based on the recounted stories from the author's own family history. The narrative is framed by a mysterious discovery made almost six decades later of a pair of Armenian dolls left at a gravesite. Victoria Waterman's captivating debut is a searing, multi-generational account of one family's legacy of love, trauma and resilience.
"Victoria Waterman's captivating debut is a searing, multi-generational account of one family's legacy of love, trauma and resilience. With events unfolding in Massachusetts, modern Turkey and the Syrian desert, Who She Left Behind, is a harrowing tale of the Armenian Genocide which highlights the female voices long since erased or forgotten from history. Waterman breathes life into her characters, mothers and daughters separated and displaced by war, who join forces to uncover and heal historical and familial wounds. Her sumptuous writing and uncommon wisdom about the human spirit will haunt readers as much as it beguiles them. Who She Left Behind is a book about the beauty and terror of what it means to be human." - Aline Ohanesian, author of "Orhan's Inheritance"
