Denice Karamardian
Odar
Introducing the new series
A Middle Eastern immigrant family navigates two wars and multiple cultures as it evolves across generations. Against the backdrop of forces beyond control, the individual characters eke out lives of purpose and wonder, some of it messy, all of it entwined in the service of love and family. On a parallel thread of time, and through the pursuit of fact and details that drive family lore and rumor, the author navigates her own journey for identity and meaning.
Readers Describe Odar
"This whole series is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Each book is a tale of human triumph. Reading them left me glad to be alive."
"Riveting storyline - a family history written meticulously researched and brought to life in an engaging novel form..."
"A beautifully written and compelling story... Great read - I couldn't put it down! The writing engages all your senses."
odar
noun
other; stranger; foreigner
ODAR
Book Three: Amirkans
After a harrowing rescue from forced captivity, Hovsep’s (who now goes by Joe) sister Mary has joined him and his wife Helen in Detroit.
Meanwhile, back in Kaladouran, Louisa and her family are faced with mass exile as her village is taken. Alice and her siblings are accosted by Turks and scattered in the wake of increasingly vicious attacks. And Marta, Mary’s sister, is taken captive. As tensions rise, the contrasts between the two worlds become more and more stark.
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ODAR
Book Two: Silence
After a harrowing rescue from forced captivity, Hovsep’s (who now goes by Joe) sister Mary has joined him and his wife Helen in Detroit. Her impending marriage fills her with uncertainty, but she remains taciturn and moves forward, grateful for her place in the new country. Joe and Helen continue to add to their burgeoning family, charting a course forward for their kin in America. Meanwhile, back in Kaladouran, Louisa and her family are faced with mass exile as her village is taken.
Silence, Denice Peter Karamardian’s second installment in the Odar series, takes up the difficult topic of collective trauma and how to bear witness when the resources for doing so have faded with time and circumstance.
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"Local Author Explores Armenian Heritage in New Trilogy 'Odar,'" Ithaca Times, Barbara Adams; "Karamardian’s family stories of resilience remind us of the endless flux of events and moments and influences that shape us all."
Denice Peter Karamardian owns and operates a regional publication for Finger Lakes wine visitors and is at work on several upcoming books. She is retired from a rich tapestry of overlapping careers that span more than forty years and included instructing voice, performing and directing and producing a radio concert series. She currently lives in her hometown of Ithaca, New York (where she operated a bed and breakfast for two decades) near her extended family.
About
ODAR
Book One: Jido
Hovsep Karamardian is on the precipice of adulthood. Finishing his education, he awaits a life in the family business that seems to him like a prison. On an errand to market, an unexpected confrontation ruptures that forever changes him and he is abruptly forced to travel with his brother to start again in the Americas.
Thus begins the true story of Middle Eastern immigrants that will span generations and trace the unfolding of improbably linked fates. Read more...
