Anyush is a love story set against the backdrop of the Armenian Turkish conflict of 1915 and the Great War. Anyush Charcoudian, a young Armenian woman living with her widowed mother, falls in love with the handsome Captain Jahan Orfalea, young Captain in the Turkish army.
Category: Fiction
The Ottoman Empire, 1915
On the Black Sea coast, Anyush Charcoudian dances at her friend’s wedding, dreaming of a life beyond her small Armenian village. Defying tradition, she embarks on a secret and dangerous affair with a Turkish officer, Captain Jahan Orfalea. As the First World War rages, the Armenian people are branded enemies of the state, and atrocities grow day by day. Torn apart and catapulted into a struggle to survive in the face of persecution and hatred, the lovers strive desperately to be reunited.
Martine Madden was born in Limerick, worked in Dublin and later moved to the United Arab Emirates with her husband John. The stories recounted to her by the Armenian diaspora there prompted her interest in Armenian history and formed the basis of the novel Anyush. Martine returned to Ireland in 1990 and now lives in the Midlands with her husband and five children.
Just finished reading the fantastic Anyush by @martinemadden1. A very moving story. Total page turner & tear jerker
wonderful
an important book … brave … heartbreaking … a wonderful and brave debut that brings credit to the publisher as well as the author
Madden portrays the injustices of a tiered system with clarity and compassion … the book excels in its description of local culture, landscape, architecture and language … a worthwhile read
Martine Madden has written a work of fiction that deserves its place on every bookshelf, alongside The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns … I didn't just read this book, I inhaled it. The sights, smells and atmosphere were written with such clarity and were respectful of the period
a finely written and moving debut … Madden is a natural storyteller … memorable and poignant
an ambitious novel
unforgettable
a haunting love story … meticulously researched and moving … the sort of book that gets under your skin and stays with you long after you have finished reading it … a haunting and beautifully written first novel
a powerful story of love and loss … poignant and heartbreaking in equal measure … well written … a commendable and timely debut novel
a compelling heartrending tale of love, loss and survival intertwined within the factual base of the Armenian genocide. This thought provoking story is set in a period of atrocities that may not be known to many, yet the author has the ability not only to transport you through time, her vivid descriptions engage all of your senses, shaping the land and people around you. You witness the very best and the very worst of people; while throughout a fledgling love fights to exist, to grow, to survive … This is a novel for your book shelves, to read again and mull over, to question - can love really conquer all?
A beautiful and haunting work.
A haunting love story set against the sweeping historical events that shaped the modern Orient.
A deeply touching, powerful and vividly described love story set amidst the barbarism of Armenian genocide.
