Armenian version of Family of Shadows paperback to be relased

The publishing house HarperCollins has announced the paperback release of Garin K Hovannisian’s Family of Shadows: A Century of Murder, Memory, and the Armenian American Dream, Asbarez.com reported.

The book features the dramatic history of the Hovannisian family: Kaspar—the survivor of genocide and soldier of General Antranig; Richard—the historian and pioneer of Armenian Studies; and Raffi—the repatriate citizen and first foreign minister of independent Armenia.

The new edition is available on Amazon and at bookstores nationwide.

The book, which has accompanied its author on a year-long tour across the United States and Canada, has received strong critical praise. “Hovannisian brings a historian’s rigor, a poet’s lyricism, and a native son’s passion to this remarkable book,” wrote Samuel G. Freedman, columnist for the New York Times. David Ignatius of the Washington Post called it “one of modern history’s great unexamined stories.”

Family of Shadows has also been translated into the Armenian language by Samvel Mkrtchyan—the editor and translator most recently of James Joyce’s Ulysses. The translation, titled Gerdastan Stverats, was unveiled on September 6, 2011, at the Yeghishe Charents House Museum in Yerevan. “It draws you from page to page with a magnetic force,” remarked Levon Ananyan, president of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, on the occasion of the release.

The Armenian edition is now available at major bookstores in Yerevan and at Abril, Berj, and Sardarabad bookstores based in Los Angeles. All proceeds will be donated to Orran, a non-profit benevolent organization founded by Raffi and Armine Hovannisian, which supports needy children and elderly in Armenia.