Zora — Arelo Sederberg

The central and precipitating event in this first-rate historical novel by the author of The Kingmakers is the genocide of the Armenians carried out by the Turks in 1915. As a girl of 12, Zora Kazorian witnesses her mother's murder and the slaughter of her neighbors at the hands of the Turkish butcher Kemal Gokalp, aka the Gray Wolf. After a long struggle, she escapes to America with her 10-year-old brother Arra. Years of a different kind of struggle ensue, and in the end theKazorians achieve brilliant success in their new country-she as an opera diva and he as a businessman. But success is not enough. Zora burns with a need to right the old wrong, or at least gain an admission that it occurred; most people quickly forgot about the massacre, a fact that was not lost on Hitler. So, 40 years later, Zora arranges an accounting with the perpetrators. Richly and authentically detailed, with characters of dimension and substance, this novel convincingly illuminates a tragic era. In addition to his vivid characterizations, Sederberg's ability to integrate long stretches of time and wide sweeps of geography and circumstance is impressive.