The Immigrants' Daughter

In her award-winning book, the author captures the universal immigrant experience through her personal memoirs. The scene is set in Cairo in the 1940’s. She is a member of a tightly knit Armenian family living in an expatriate community of genocide survivors, or escapees, like her parents, from Turkey, during and after World War I. Peaceful life, joy with younger brother’s arrival and happy celebrations with the clan are rocked by World War II, trauma in the family and brother’s departure behind the Iron Curtain. The usual inter generational tensions defending tradition against emancipation are constantly present, especially with regard to the inferior status of women. It is also a turbulent period in Egypt’s political history transitioning from kingdom to republic.


The Immigrants’ Daughter, interspersed with wit, is a triumph over destiny, a leap from passive acceptance of fate into a fierce battle for self-determination.