"The idea that I couldn't ask my grandmother questions anymore flashed through me like a cold current of terror. That she was no more. That there was a big empty space where she once pushed through the world with her quick step." -
"The Woman in Blue", p. 27

"She had become my pakht - the force of fate that called on me, whether I was ready or not, and who, like Lady Fate, was indifferent to my present moment, my station in life, or my need for security and comfort. She was history knocking on the door of the heart, and when she came knocking, her message often was opaque, symbolic, evocative."
"Freedom, New Jersey," pg. 31

"In 1960 I hadn't even heard the phrase 'starving Armenians,' nor did I know that my ancestors were among the more than two million Armenians who, if they weren't killed outright, were...