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News and Reviews
News
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August 29, 2010
Dear Readers:
I woke up this morning, despondent over the second car accident within six weeks. The first totaled my car, the second made a dent in my new vehicle not yet a month old. Neither one was my fault. It seemed that providence was plucking the feathers in my cap faster than Government has been taxing me nowadays.
As I sat brooding over the mishaps in my life, despondence took over, like a dark cloud. I resorted to my e-mail that, I am ashamed to admit, has become my morning prayer. I sank into it like an addict into alcohol, trying to smother worries with a shot of messages. Well, this morning it was worth it.
There was a short message from the publisher to whom I had sent the article, “A Skinny Feast.” The requirement was for a 300-word essay about cooking adventures. The very cornerstone of my writing career was laid down with “Cooking a Chicken in a Teapot,” followed by similar “creative” experiences, so the subject appealed to me. I remembered having written a similar piece that I had thrown into my slush pile. I fished it out and rejuvenated it before sending on.
Lo and behold, right when I needed a booster to prevent me from suicidal thoughts, came the much coveted letter from the publisher. My piece was accepted for publication!
A little sunshine slipped in through the dark cloud, dispersing my morbid thoughts, even though the dent in the car is still a capital problem. This is the second story this year that has been saved from my slush pile. It looks like my discards have turned into an investment fund, appreciating in value in time.
I never suspected that, besides warming the soul, one of the many beneficial sidelines of teasing the muses is being rewarded with rainbows of happiness.
Mary Terzian
Email: Nayri@aol.com
www.Maryterzian.com
Author: The Immigrants' Daughter
Winner, Best Books 2006 Award
Finalist, National Indie Excellence 2007 Book Awards
both awards in multicultural, non-fiction category
Note: "The Immigrants' Daughter" is sold through www.Amazon.com, www.Booklocker.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com and other major online bookstores. It can also be ordered by a brick and mortar bookstore, through Ingram or downloaded from Booklocker.com. It will soon be available on IPad.
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EXCERPTS FROM BOOK REVIEWS
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Spero News. Review Date 4-3-2008
http://www.speroforum.com/book/item.asp?ItemId=159113773X&ReviewPage=&SI=
Summary: AN UNFORGETTABLE MEMOIR
In The Immigrant's Daughter, Mary Terzian has crafted a page turning account of her experience growing up in Cairo in a family that considers losing their ties to the Armenian "Motherland" a betrayal of their forefathers' massacre. Vividly told, with amazing recall, Terzian makes a peaceful, pre-war era come alive, from the sights and smells of the marketplace, right down to the buttons on her school uniform. You feel her anguish at the loss of her mother at a young age, her fear during World War II air raids, and the pressure to excel as a student while enduring the scorn of her father over wasting money on a girl's education. Sheer determination, grit and resolve are underlaid with aching vulnerability and leavened with humor. Once you pick this book up, you won't want to put it down. Maureen O'Brien, Author of "Purgatory Behind the Wire".
Harut Barsamian , Mission Viejo, California, August 2007:
MUST READ . . .The impact of "The Immigrant's Daughter" goes beyond the Armenian-Egyptian bi-cultural environment. The ongoing industrial and economic globalization is creating multicultural societies across the continents. . . Consequently the adaptation of old traditions and cultures with prevailing conditions creates internal strife in families. . . children and subsequent generations could certainly benefit from Mary Terzian's real-life experiences by reading the loud message in her book. . .
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Richard R. Blake Reviews, (San Leandro, CA), June 27, 2006, Amazon.com. (Also in MBR Review, August 2006, Reviewers Bookwatch, Blake's shelf) http://www.midwestbookreview.com
AGAINST ALL ODDS
This is the moving dramatic story of the early life of Mary Terzian. It is told in a first person voice. The story progresses from Mary's birth and preschool through to her young adulthood. Mary Terzian spent her childhood in a community of immigrants in the city of Cairo. These people have been traumatized by genocide and deportation from Historical Armenia under Ottoman rule. This inquisitive young girl's questions go unanswered. She does not understand the "why" behind the disparity in gender roles, the importance of tradition, religious superstitions, and cultural issues . . .
. . .I found myself not wanting to miss a single word of this journey. The author has a unique way of using tongue in cheek humor to lighten the impact of hopelessness. Terzian is a talented writer with a wealth of experience to share. I hope she is working on a sequel to this captivating, heartwarming, and unforgettable book.
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Story Circle Reviews
Books About Women's Lives
http://www.storycircle.org/BookReviews Click "Enter Book Reviews..." at the bottom of the page then click T on alphabetical index for Terzian.
Reviewed by Susan Wittig Albert, Bertram TX
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY
"Where do you come from?" is the first question of Mary Terzian's absorbing memoir . . .a story about personal identity: of shifting cultural contexts within which a young woman must find, and finally create, herself. . .
. . . The book is a good read, a thoughtful presentation of a difficult life's passage, and a richly-colored portrait of Armenian immigrant life in pre- and post-war Egypt.
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Reviewed by Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views (2/06)
“The Immigrant’s Daughter” is the story of Mary Terzian’s childhood in Cairo, Egypt. She is the daughter of immigrants who escaped genocide and settled in Egypt . . .
. . .From the very first page, we are able to see the spark in Ms. Terzian that no doubt helped her surpass many of the barriers she faced in her life . . .
. . . Ms. Terzian did a fine job of sharing her life with the reader. . . reads more like a collection of short stories than it does a traditional biography. . . through her . . . anecdotes, we are treated to an insider’s view of what it was like to grow up in Mahttp://www.speroforum.com/book/item.asp?ItemId=159113773X&ReviewPage=&SI=ry’s world . . .
. . . Mary ultimately triumphs . . .
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MEDIA RELEASE:
October 25, 2006
For Immediate Release
Local Author wins Best Books 2006 Award
Whittier, CA – On Monday, October 16, 2006, USA Book News announced their Best Books 2006 Awards. Mary Terzian, a local resident in Hacienda Heights and member of the Writers’ Club of Whittier, is the winner in the Multicultural Non-Fiction category, for her first book The Immigrants’ Daughter, published by Booklocker.com. Terzian was previously awarded a PEN USA West, Rosenthal scholarship in 2001, while her book was in progress; first prize in Literature in the Armenian Allied Arts Association’s annual contests in 1992 and 1994; and recognition from various organizations for her writing (see under Recognition/Awards). She is a distinguished speaker with a ready sense of humor. “My Toastmasters Club was the back door entry to writing,” she chuckles.
Terzian, of Armenian descent, is fluent in English and calls herself “an imported American”. She lived the first half of her life in Egypt, and arrived in the United States in the 1960s, after spending time in the Republics of Congo and Togo on assignment with the United Nations, and in Lebanon. She is well traveled, sometimes running into complex situations such as the demise of Khrushchev while visiting the Soviet Union in 1964. She lived, studied and worked in New York and Los Angeles, and took advantage of early retirement from a left-brain occupation to pursue writing. Her sideline activities include contributions to ethnic and American newspapers, magazines, books and online publications. She held several offices in professional and service organizations.
The Immigrants’ Daughter is the universal story of a displaced family, victim to ethnic cleansing, going through the phases of acculturation and adaptation with inherent problems of starting a new life in a foreign country. It is “an easy read, not without its humorous moments...” per one reader; “captivating, heartwarming and unforgettable” per Richard R. Blake, in the August 2006 issue of the Midwest Book Review; “a compelling memoir” per Susan Wittig Albert of Story Circle Reviews; and “a fine job... reads more like a collection of short stories...” per Danielle Feliciano of Reader Views. The book has generated five-star ratings on Amazon.com. It is available in paperback in regular or online stores and it is downloadable from the publisher, Booklocker.com.
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Submitted by Sherry Barber
Publicity Director, Writers’ Club of Whittier, Inc
E-mail Sherz88@aol.com
Note: Terzian's "The Immigrants' Daughter" placed finalist in the National Indie Excellence 2007 Book Awards, in the multicultural, non-fiction category.
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