The Ghosts of Anatolia
It was in Jerusalem, in 1996, that I first learned of the "Armenian Holocaust," which occurred in Anatolia and other parts of the Ottoman Empire at the time of the First World War. I had spent several days in the Holy City with my wife just after I moved my medical career from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, to the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and before I wrote my first published novel.
On that sunny spring day, we strolled down an alley on the edge of the Armenian Quarter and were struck by the difference between that quiet, sequestered part of Jerusalem, in the area around the perimeter of the Armenian Quarter where ordinary tourists were allowed to walk, and the other quarters (Christian, Jewish and Arab) of that enthralling city. We spoke with a policeman, who happened across our path, and he told us that it wasn't possible to see the homes and other areas of the Armenian Quarter unless you were Armenian, or were invited there by an Armenian friend.
Then, at the end of the alley, we came to a corner where a banner was pinned to a stanchion with a shocking photograph of a group of Armenian men hanging from scaffolds in Aleppo, Syria in 1915. I silently stared for several minutes in disbelief at that haunting image. The banner was entitled "Don't forget the Armenian Holocaust," and I never did.
I read dozens of books and perused hundreds of websites that focused on the events that occurred in Anatolia (both those supporting and those refuting the Armenian perspective) over the ensuing decade, including Days of Tragedy in Armenia: Personal Experiences in Harpoot by American missionary Henry H. Riggs. Indeed, the character Dr. David Charles in the my new novel, The Ghosts of Anatolia, is loosely based on Reverend Riggs, something I didn't appreciate until after my novel was written and I re-read Days of Tragedy in Armenia a year later. I also viewed hundreds of other photographs of the events in the Ottoman Empire, including those taken by Armin T. Wegner, a German soldier and medic who served in the Ottoman Empire during The Great War.
I always wanted my first novel to focus on what I'd learned about the events in Anatolia and Jerusalem, but the subject was so complex that I found myself writing Winter in Kandahar (an adventure novel revolving around the centuries-old feuding between the Tajiks and Pashtun in Afghanistan¬- a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award in 2004 in the category Best New Voice in Fiction) and Ascent from Darkness (an adventure novel that focuses on the plight of the Kurds in Northern Iraq- a finalist in 2008 for the Indie Book Awards in the category action/adventure).
Finally, world events, as well as changes in my own life, led me to sit down and write The Ghosts of Anatolia: An Epic Journey to Forgiveness. In my opinion, it is by far the best novel I've written to this date. Here is what two early readers of the novel said:
"The Ghosts of Anatolia takes us on a realistic journey into a dark period of genocidal history. My own family endured the horrors on the road to Ras ul-Ain. After reading this gripping novel, I now feel as if I was with them."
Armand Arabian, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court (retired)
"I was utterly transported to another place and time by The Ghosts of Anatolia. The plot was engaging and the characters endearing. Wilson's generation- and continent-spanning tale is full of love and hardship, war and family, history and mystery. In The Ghosts of Anatolia, we follow the extraordinary and complicated character Sirak Kazerian, from his childhood in Anatolia at the dawning of the 20th century, through his education in Jerusalem, to his later life in America. Sirak learns that, though he has fled thousands of miles, he cannot escape his past-the "ghosts" of Anatolia emerge in ways no reader will expect. Wilson's story is a tapestry of contradictions: of boundary-crossing friendships amid religious conflict, of love and letting-go, of feud and forgiveness, and of the boundless power of faith to heal." LaVon Kellner, President of Ethis Communications
I finally got to see the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem. When I was nearly finished with The Ghosts of Anatolia, I was invited to give medical lectures in Tel Aviv. The inviting officials asked me what I'd like to do on my free days in Israel. I told them about my new novel and said I'd really like to get a chance to visit Jerusalem again to make sure my memories from several years earlier (that I used in writing the part of my book that takes place in The Holy City) were accurate. When we arrived in the quarter, I was immediately ushered to Patriarchate Road near the Jaffa Gate, where I was introduced to George Hintlian, the curator or the Armenian Museum in the Quarter. Mr. Hintlian graciously took me to the Cathedral of Saint James to attend a Vespers Service.
Then, he took me on a fascinating walk through the residential area of the Armenian quarter. There I saw dining halls where hundreds of refugees were fed and had a chance to visit several apartments and chat with elderly survivors of the caravans forced out of Anatolia in 1915 and 1916, including a resident named "Mary," who never knew her real name because she was so young when she was separated from her family by the horrors that occurred in Anatolia. The residential area in the Quarter was much like I imagined it would be, and I changed very little in my finished novel based on my visit. The apartments were much smaller than I'd imagined and I didn't know about the steps throughout the area that would prevent a horse-drawn cart from bringing my protagonist, Sirak Kazerian, and his sister, and their few belongings, to their new apartment. But the gardens and gentle people I saw and met there were much as I imagined.
My visit there was one of my many personal highlights of writing The Ghosts of Anatolia. As with all my novels, my style is to accurately relate real events, with my character's stories interwoven in the story. One reviewer called my style "Faction." I hope you enjoy my novel. I'd love to hear your thoughts after you finish reading it. Steven E. Wilson, M.D. [email protected]
