Denice Karamardian
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.
ODAR
the series
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 forever changes him. Living a life surrounded by family and friends in Kessab, he is abruptly forced to travel with his brother to start again in the Americas.
Hovsep is odar or ‘other’ in this new world. Relying on nothing but his own intrepid nature and ability to adapt, he finds work, love, and friendships that will last a lifetime.
Thus begins the true story of Middle Eastern immigrants that will span generations and trace the unfolding of improbably linked fates. Denice Karamardian’s Jido explores the honoring of family, memory, and legacy even in the midst of new beginnings and evolving identities.
JIDO
ODAR BOOK 1
A Journey Through Community
Having returned to New York State, Joe and Helen settle with the expanding family on a new farm that supports them and their community through the Depression years. As the children grow into young adulthood, the voices of a new generation begin to tell their stories. Their vastly different memories of the same household attest to the diversity of perspectives, reflecting the family’s growth and transformation.
Against the backdrop of the war, in which five of Joe’s sons serve, eldest daughter Susie and youngest daughter Laura lead their lives and witness unfolding events from separate directions. After the war, the children settle and further expand the family as Joe and Helen move into the twilight of their lives. All the while, Louisa’s son Stepan, recognized by the President of Syria, prepares to attend University and tutor the President’s children in Damascus, beginning a life of achievement and adventure.
In Amirkans, the stirring conclusion of the Odar trilogy, Denice Karamardian effortlessly weaves lives and stories together, reflecting on family and showing us what makes up this most intimate of inheritances.
AMIRKANS
ODAR BOOK 3
New Generation for a New World
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 the Great War reaches the villages of Kessab. Alice and her siblings are accosted 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.
Silence, Denice 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.
SILENCE
ODAR BOOK 2
Journey Through Despair and Redemption
