The Saints of Zara
An Intimate Memoir
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I thought I perceived sympathy and tolerance when Arick spoke, but perhaps it was only pity that came after the years had passed. Arick talked of his youth – he was an orphan; of how her own father had treated him like a servant when he was still a boy; of his shyness, his uncomplaining forbearance, his subservience. She said he had been friendless all his life. No one had ever liked him, and yet he was the best of the good men. She was talking about my father.
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About the Book
Nishan was nineteen years old when Turkey saw an upheaval in the Ottoman government. Violence and lawlessness ravaged the whole country. When the Mormon missionaries arrived, it seemed logical to seek a new opportunity in the United States. Nishan and a small group of Armenian converts left their violence-torn home in Zara, Turkey, in September of 1902.
In The Saints of Zara, author Isabel-Rose Kulski shares her family’s story, focusing on her father Nishan, a man who saw too little love but nonetheless lived an interesting life. Through a host of photographs, excerpts from Nishan’s diary, and details provided by family members, she tells of how the group made a new life in Mormon Utah.
The Saints of Zara recounts a compelling and rich story that evokes another time in a changed landscape. It offers a look into one family’s stunning triumphs and failures in twentieth-century America.
About the Author
Isabel-Rose Kulski writes about her father’s life in this family biography. She considers herself a pioneer in her own right—by recreating through vivid memory the lives of her immigrant relatives. She currently lives in McLean, Virginia.