Souls Bazaar

Author's name: Arora Mardiganian

The Mardiganian family's joy on Easter morning was marred only by the prophecy of the shepherd Vartabed, who warned of a pervasive evil that would soon descend upon them. Before the middle of the day, disasters suddenly overtook them. The killing machine was unleashed, announcing the beginning of the Armenian massacres, and with it the tragedy of Aurora, Mardiganian's daughter. The importance of this book lies in its being the first and most important testimony from survivors of one of the most heinous crimes of ethnic cleansing of the last century. In it, Aurora recounts the suffering of the Armenians during the massacres and the horrific atrocities that befell her. Whenever the Armenian massacres are mentioned, this book is always present. Its precedence is not only in its being the first survivor testimony, but also in its being the subject of the first film produced about the Armenian massacres, entitled "Usurped Armenia." It remains etched in both written and visual memory. This book constitutes an important addition for the Arab reader, as the Arab library lacks books that shed light on the Armenian narrative of that period.