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Bloodvine: A Novel
Aris Janigian
Trade paper, 296 pages, (6 x 9)
ISBN: 1-890771-98-8, $14.95
A Great Valley Book
Bloodvine is the dramatic tale of a man’s struggle to come to terms with the inexplicable episodes, gaps, and secrets that plague his family. Set in the 1950s against the backdrop of the three-thousand-year-old Armenian culture, Bloodvine is a gripping story of love and betrayal. Two half-brothers, Andy and Abe, inherit forty acres of prime vineyard in California’s Central Valley. Fertile as the land is, it is not enough to support their families, and what ensues is a riveting interchange of accusations and, ultimately, betrayal.
Told with an authentic and unflinching sense of place, this story of trans-generational trauma and healing resonates with the power of humanity’s most ancient conflicts. |
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Awards and Reviews:
Finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
"A touching and very real story." —Kirkus Reviews
"Aris Janigian is a strong, welcome new voice."—Los Angeles Times
"[An] absorbing debut novel….[Janigian] brings immediacy and naturalism to the story of the Armenians who immigrated to California."— Washington Post
"Bloodvine is a novel as dark as Turkish coffee, pungent as soil turned for planting, and as mysterious as only a family story can be. Add Aris Janigian to the harvest of California writers nurtured by the harsh and bountiful Central Valley; he knows its sorrows and its sweetness."—D. J. Waldie, author of Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir |
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Author Biography:
Aris Janigian, a second generation Armenian American, was born in Fresno, California. He is a professor of humanities at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and he returns to the Fresno area annually to work as a grape packer and shipper. He is, with April Greiman, author of Something from Nothing. He is currently working on a third book. |
