For the Love of Armine

A love story like no other. A story of enduring love that will warm the coldest heart.But in many ways this is more than just a love story. Although set only forty years ago, in the 70's, the novel weaves a tapestry of the history and culture of the Armenian people going back in time to their very beginnings as a nation and down to the traumatic genocide a hundred years ago at the hands of the Turks of the Ottoman empire.Now a land-locked country, Armenia in its heydays was a seafaring nation whose adventurous citizens journeyed to the farthest corners of the globe and settled down in the distant lands they reached. They were a hardworking, industrious lot who overcame adversities and calamities to maintain flourishing businesses as far away as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh (not a distinct nation in those days), and India.The novel opens in the southern Indian state of Kerala, which is a major producer of a wide variety of spices and condiments in great demand the world over. In addition, its coastline on the Arabian Sea made it a prime landmark on the maritime trade route that stretched from Europe, via the shores of Africa and the Arabian Gulf, all the way to South East Asia. Armenians were among the first to set up businesses in Kerala.The story centers around Armine, the only daughter of a retired Armenian couple living in Kerala. Her small community, like that of other Armenian diasporas around the world, clings resolutely to their customs, traditions, language, and most of all to their faith in the Armenian Apostolic Church, a branch of the Orthodox Church.The young man who falls in love with Armine is Kuriakose (or Kirakos as Armine calls him), a local young man. Kuriakose who lives with his grandparents after the tragic death of his parents, is plagued by religious doubt and faces an uncertain future on account of the high unemployment rate. At the commencement of the novel, he has left the indigenous Orthodox Church of his family and joined a charismatic group of Pentecostals.The fortuitous meeting of Armine and Kirakos and the consequences of their uncommon friendship is what the book is all about.In telling this tale the author uses inmovative devices to bring to life Armenia and its culture while at the same time taking the reader back to the tumultuous epochal events of the 70s. Armine recounts stories of Armenia. Kuriakose keeps a journal of important happenings around the world. The leitmotif that runs throughout the novel is the pathos of the genocide of two million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks at the turn of the last century.The off the beaten track story of Armine and Kirakos is one of enduring love. A love that transcends time and place and overcomes insurmountable odds. It is a celebration of the spirit of resilience and the triumph of indomitable hope over fate and the cruelest adversity.