ASR meets up with Mark Mustian

On May 1st at the LA Festival of Books at USC, Andrea and Hunter were happy to meet up with celebrated author and childhood friend Mark Mustian. Mark’s most recent award-winning novel Gendarme is a powerful exploration of prejudice, love, transformation, loss, and memory set against the background of the Armenian genocide and deportations of 1915.
Gendarme moves back and forth through time between an elderly gentleman facing mortality and his younger self, a Turkish officer “doing his job” . The novel captures the officer’s amazement as he falls in love with an Armenian deportee, challenging all his previously held beliefs. The two lovers are separated and at the end of his life, the older man must face the memories he has suppressed. Illustrating how the power of love can surpass political and national lines, Gendarme received a starred review from the Library Journal, praises by the New York Times, a listing on NPR’s top picks, as well as numerous literary prizes.
Along with being an author, Mark Mustian lives in Tallahassee, Florida as a city commissioner and attorney. In 2001, Mark was named leader of the year by Leadership Tallahassee.
Be sure to check out his fascinating 2008 Turkey Syria Travelogue which details his journey following the deportation caravans of 1915. There is also a Gendarme Reading Group Guide on the website.

Mark Mustian, author of awardwinning The Gendarme and Andrea's childhood friend

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