Forbidden Homeland - by Katia Tavitian Karageuzian (Paperback)

About the Book

A memoir that weaves the journey of finding out family background

Book Synopsis

The story of how a single innocent comment ended up unlocking answers to a lifetime of ancestral inquiries.

Using personal accounts of diaspora, author Katia Tavitian Karageuzian delves into her cultural past to start solving mysteries about her family history with a focus on the Armenian Genocide and the ongoing Karabakh conflict.

Karageuzian thought her journey started with the discovery of long-lost relatives, but instead, that discovery led to a decades-long search to reveal the extensive history of American involvement in the destiny of her homeland and a buried record of those living with generational trauma.

As she slowly uncovers the answers she is looking for, Karageuzian also discovers surprising truths along the way-and an inspiring resilience that readers won't soon forget.

Forbidden Homeland, Story of a Diasporan, is the recipient of the 2023 Golden Literary Titan award.

Now, for the first time, she shares both her research and the answers she dug up in order to expose the geopolitics that consistently bury those truths and muffle the current ongoing wars in Transcaucasia.

Review Quotes

Early Praise for Forbidden Homeland

"Forbidden Homeland immerses you in centuries of world-shaping

history as its written pages become the rich landscape of a deeply

personal journey...making you feel a part of it and reaching into

your core. So it did to me. In her riveting odyssey to find the missing

pieces of her own identity, Katia Tavitian Karageuzian takes the

reader with her to uncover hidden truths and connect past with present.

Dr. Karageuzian masterfully weaves her life's unexpected twists

and turns, layered within stories of Armenian Genocide, Lebanese

Civil War, immigration, and current world events, and paints a vivid,

living mosaic of the unique and shared experiences of exile and

resilience, loss and rebirth, discovering finally that even when forbidden

our homeland, if we search, we will find home."

Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian, Filmmaker, The Hidden Map

"This is an amazing book which weaves seamlessly the fascinating

story of her family life with the tragic history of the Armenian nation,

all the while discovering by chance long-lost relatives scattered

throughout the world after the Genocide of 1915."

Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier newspaper.

"Every migrant finding a haven in America has bittersweet memories

of the Old Country to hold and cherish. Karageuzian's story

stands out with the persistence of a dark shadow hovering over her

picturesque description of a happy childhood interrupted by the

terrors of Lebanese civil war. Halfway through her skillfully wrought

narrative, the shadow closes in; she begins to untie the knots, and

the narrative becomes the story of the Armenian Genocide through

the lens of a third-generation survivor."

Rubina Peroomian, Ph.D. Genocide Scholar, Author

"I am sure this enticingly timely volume will be read with great interest

by researchers, and all readers interested in the recent turbulent

history of Lebanon, the Middle East and Armenia."

Tatul Sonentz-Papazian, Editor of "Hai Sird"

"Part memoir, part history with revealing facts about Armenia,

Katia's story reinforced my gratitude for being born in America

and having the freedom of attending school without fear of bombs

killing me or members of my family. This is a powerful story..."

Kay Mouradian, Author, My Mother's Voice