NPR Likes Jerry Burger's THE SHADOWS OF 1915

NPR's Fresh Air will recognize Jerry Burger's, The Shadows of 1915, with three brief "sponsorship slots," on May 11, 12, and 13.  The novel has garnered praise for its deeply realistic characters and its thoughtful portrayal of the after-effects of trauma, both upon individuals and upon whole cultural groups.  It's set in a 1950s California where second-generation Armenian immigrants thrive and heal--or fail to heal--from the wounds their parents' had suffered under Turkish rule.  And it's shaped to raise parallel questions about the lives of more recent immigrants, the Latinos who work in burgeoning agricultural industries.  But the greatest strength of Shadows is its characters:   brothers Mihran and Arak Saropian, their mother Tarvez, Mihran's girlfriend Teresa--each an unforgettable individual.