"Skylark Farm" a novel by Antonia Arslan

"Skylark Farm" a novel by Antonia Arslan, based on actual events.

Set in 1915, the Turks were beginning their genocide of the Armenian people, although to this day the Turkish government still will not acknowledge this.

Two brothers, Yerwant, 53, who 40 years earlier was sent to Venice by his family for educational purposes, and his brother, Sempad, are making plans for a reunion on their family's idyllic estate, Skylark Farm, in Turkey - the brothers have never seen each other so this will be a very historic event for both. But World War I begins, Yermant is unable to reach Turkey. Sempad and his family have reached the estate, all the male members of the family and their male servants are brutally murdered by military forces. The female members become part of a forced march, enprisoned in concentration camps, suffer torture and starvation.

The author recounts the horrors told to her by her Aunt Henriette, a survivor of the event. Antonia, once a professor of Italian literature at the University of Padua, depicts these events with vivid and horrific descriptions of cruelty and immeasurable loss to so many families, not just her own.

Although very brutal in detail, this book was one I had a hard time putting down. It is certainly not for the faint of heart - if you are unable to watch or read about Hitler's annihilation of the Jewish people in Germany during WWII, then you probably won't be able to read this. I eventually purchased "Armenian Golgotha" by Grigoris Palak'ean regarding the genocide of the Armenians for James, which he read, can't say he "enjoyed" what he read, but I know that he came away with a new knowledge of the events so many people have tried to cover up for many years.