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As the Poppies Bloomed: A Novel of Love in a Time of Fear
by Maral Boyadjian

Published: 2015-01-15
Paperback : 282 pages
8 members reading this now
4 clubs reading this now
1 member has read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 2 of 2 members
Double Bronze Winner, 2015 Foreword INDIEFAB Book for the Year Awards

Finalist, Best New Fiction Category, 10th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards


Finalist, Best New Fiction Category, 2015 USA Best Book Awards Honorable Mention, Mainstream Literary Fiction, 23rd Annual Writer's ...
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Introduction

Double Bronze Winner, 2015 Foreword INDIEFAB Book for the Year Awards

Finalist, Best New Fiction Category, 10th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards


Finalist, Best New Fiction Category, 2015 USA Best Book Awards Honorable Mention, Mainstream Literary Fiction, 23rd Annual Writer's Digest Book Awards

It is 1913 and late summer in the Ottoman Empire. The sun rises, full and golden, atop a lush, centuries-old village tucked into the highlands where the blood-red poppies bloom. Outside the village leader's home, the sound of voices carries past the grapevines to the lane where Anno, his youngest daughter, slips out unseen.

She heads to a secret meeting place. She forgets that enemies surround her village. She forgets that her father meets each day with trepidation. She knows only the love she has for Daron, who waits for her as she hastens to him, once again breaking the ancient rules of courtship.

Anno and Daron wish for nothing more than marriage and a better day alongside their neighbors, but neither is prepared for the dark, dangerous secret that Daron's father keeps or the upheaval that will soon envelop their village, their land, and their hearts.

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

On the same day that the village headman’s older daughter was to wed, his younger daughter hid in an abandoned well.

Anno clung to the well’s solid to blocks. It was a well that had not been used by the villagers during her lifetime, and the bottom, she knew, was hard and dry. Her fingers pressed the edges of the blocks and she willed herself to keep her head out of sight. Her forearms were scraped, bleeding into the sleeves of her blouse, but Anno felt no pain at all. All that mattered was that she was not seen.... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1) How did you feel about the way Anno dealt with her predicament, as torn as she was between respect to tradition, and her love for Daron?

2) There are three fierce women portrayed in this book, each of a different generation. Which did you identify with most?

3) What parallels can you draw between the situation in present day Syria and Turkey and 100 years ago when the story takes place?? Are you surprised?

Suggested by Members

genocide, religious discrimination
by [email protected] (see profile) 01/31/16

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

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Book Club Recommendations

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
  "As the poppies bloomed"by Kay V. (see profile) 08/29/16

Myself and all of our Ranch Readers members loved the book. I would recommend.
The book was interesting and you could feel that you knew the characters. While reading this novel we all
... (read more)

 
by Sharon J. (see profile) 01/06/18

I enjoyed the insight into the culture and historical context. The characters were believable and interesting.

 
by Karen H. (see profile) 07/31/17

 
  "AS THE POPPIES BLOOMED by Maral Boyadjian"by Becky H. (see profile) 01/31/16

This bittersweet love story takes place in Turkish Armenia just before and during World War I, a time when the Muslim Turks and the Muslim Ottomans sought control over the Christian Armenian... (read more)

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