Must READ!!!, August 31, 2007

By	Harut Barsamian (Mission Viejo, CA USA)

This award winning book, "The Immigrant's Daughter," by Mary Terzian, is a literary achievement in more than one dimension. Her personal experience of growing up in Cairo, Egypt, in a family that was deported from its ancestral Armenian homeland, is most captivating and heartwarming. The emotional stress and psychological turbulences, caused by constrictive family traditions, in a young girl who is striving for respect and identity, are presented with eloquence draped in simplicity. Mary's style and language, often seasoned with subtle humor, are the manifestations of her professionalism and creativity.

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. Millions from third world countries or rural areas are moving to more industrialized cities or countries. Consequently the adaptation of old traditions and cultures with prevailing conditions creates internal strife in families. Inevitably children are caught between these conflict-filled circumstances, facing individual challenges. These children and subsequent generations could certainly benefit from Mary Terzian's real-life experiences by reading the loud message in her book: uncompromising pursuit of education, motivation, perseverance, and adaptation of traditional moral values in a new milieu.