Nobody's Child [Paperback]

"This is historical fiction at its gritty best, with compelling characters, heart wrenching choices and unspeakable horror.

Highly Recommended."

Joan Marshall, teacher librarian, CM Magazine

"This novel is a wonderful story of friendship, hope and family. The one constant throughout the ever-changing difficulties and ordeals faced by the characters is their desire to remain with, or return to, their family. The novel portrays the characters as extremely realistic, very life-like, everyday people...

It is a wonderful read that I would highly recommend."

Adrienne & Cait of Guelph, Ontario for Bookhooks (www.bookhooks.com)

"Marsha Skrypuch includes references to the three major massacres against Armenians: first, Adana in 1909, then the genocide in 1915; then, she takes us back to the Hamidian massacres in 1896... In this way, the novel presents the three great catastrophes that befell Armenians in a twenty-year period and provides an important background and context to the psychology of the Armenian characters.

...The characterizations are strong. We care for the children and admire their strength. They and their parents are victims, yet the children refuse to give in. They always accept the struggle to survive in the hope of being reunited. They have chances for a safer life but refuse to give up their Armenian identity for it.

...We must thank Marsha Skrypuch for using her talents once again to tell a story from our past that will help explain to younger generations an unfortunate part of our history. At the same time, the characters in the novel exhibit the strength and resolve of Armenians to survive. I urge you to read Marsha Skrypuch's compelling novel, Nobody's Child."

Dr. Lorne Shirinian, author of The Armenian Genocide: Resisting the Inertia of Indifference, and Head of Department, Department of English, Royal Military College of Canada

When the Armenians of Turkey are marched into the desert to die in 1915, Mariam is rescued by her Turkish friend Rustem, and lives with mixed acceptance as a guest in his father's harem. Kevork is shot and left for dead in a mass grave in the desert, but is rescued by nomadic Arabs and nurtured back to health.

Both teens must choose between the security of an adopted home or the risk of death in search of family.

A sequel to the highly successful The Hunger, Nobody's Child is a stirring and engaging account of one of the twentieth century's most significant events.

Orphaned by the Adana massacre in 1909, Mariam and her siblings, together with their friend Kevork and his aunt, travel home to Marash hoping to find their remaining family still alive. Six years later, when the teens face deportation from Turkey, they are torn apart despite their best efforts to stay together. One thing sustains them throughout their horrifying ordeals -- the hope that they might one day be reunited. A sequel to the highly successful The Hunger, Nobody's Child is a stirring and engaging account of the Armenian Genocide, opne of the twentieth century's most significant events.

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the author of two previous young adult novels - The Hunger (1999) and Hope's War (2001), which was nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award. Skrypuch is also the author of three picture books for children. She lives in Brantford, Ontario with her husband and son, and has a BA in English and an MLS.