Can These Bones Live‪?‬

Peter Johnson, a twenty-nine year old aspiring international correspondent and novelist, travels to Turkey in 2014 to research his Turkish, Armenian, and Syriac ancestors who were both perpetrators and victims of the 1915 massacres and deportations in that country. Using the vivid memoir of his great-grandmother as a guide, Peter teams up with his beautiful Muslim cousin, Ashti Kaya, to follow the route of his ancestors deportation through Turkey and Syria to their final safety in America. Along the way, Peter and Ashti learn much about the history of their families and of the region and become embroiled in the rescue of Armenian and Syriac Christians from ISIS in war-torn Syria. Profoundly affected by his experiences, Peter comes to realize that his ancestors capacity for good and evil is also mirrored within himself.


A timely book that gives a ring-true picture of the fate of five generations of an Armenian family after deportation. The suspenseful story is both provocative and insightful and is a must-read for travelers and students.

Hank Ackerman, former Associated Press International Correspondent and Bureau Chief