The award-winning story of a young Armenian man's harrowing escape from the massacre of his people and of his granddaughter's quest to retrace his steps ¶ “Part family heirloom, part history lesson, The Hundred-Year Walk is an emotionally poignant work, powerfully imagined and expertly crafted. ”-Aline Ohanesian, author of Orhan's Inheritance ¶ Growing up, Dawn MacKeen heard from her mother how her grandfather Stepan miraculously escaped from the Turks during the Armenian genocide of 1915, when more than one million people-half the Armenian population-were killed. In The Hundred-Year Walk MacKeen alternates between Stepan's courageous account, drawn from his long-lost journals, and her own story as she attempts to retrace his steps, setting out alone to Turkey and Syria, shadowing her resourceful, resilient grandfather across a landscape still rife with tension. Dawn uses his journals to guide her to the places he was imperiled and imprisoned and the desert he crossed with only half a bottle of water. Their shared story is a testament to family, to home, and to the power of the human spirit to transcend the barriers of religion, ethnicity, and even time itself. ¶ A Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize · A New York Post Must-Read ¶ “This book reminds us that the way we treat strangers can ripple out in ways we will never know. . . MacKeen's excavation of the past reveals both uncomfortable and uplifting lessons about our present. ”-Ari Shapiro, NPR ¶ “I am in awe of what Dawn MacKeen has done. . . Her sentences sing. Her research shines. Her readers will be rapt-and a lot smarter by the end. ”-Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion¶ “Harrowing. ”-Us Weekly
