by Maral Boyadjian

Grade Level: Ninth grade to Adult

Set in the Ottoman Empire in late summer of 1913, As the Poppies Bloomed tells the story of young lovers Anno and Daron, who fall in love as their Armenian village, comes under increasing threat by Turkish authorities in the period leading up to the Armenian Genocide. They couple wants to marry and continue life in their homeland, but they’re unprepared for the dangerous secret Daron’s father keeps or the dark days ahead.

From Kirkus Reviews:

“On the eve of war and destruction, an Armenian family tries to maintain its traditional way of life in this historical novel… Boyadjian vividly conjures the specific sensory details of the Armenians’ lost world… The story is fiction but is based on memories from the author’s four grandparents–all survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Their survival adds a note of hope. Powerful and sensitive, this tragic novel helps illuminate a historical episode still too little known or acknowledged.”