Book of Lost Illusions, The

By Lorne Shirinian

One day, Jack Atamian’s computer sends him two files that inform him of the name of his great grandfather who was a writer arrested on April 25, 1915, at the very beginning of the Armenian Genocide during which he and many friends were rounded up and murdered. When Jack goes to his father, a human rights lawyer, to gee information about their family, he learns about their history but only after 1915. Nothing is known about his great grandfather who Jack discovers was giving information on the war on Armenians to Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Jack wonders how the files were sent to him, by whom, and why. Did artificial intelligence randomly connect family names? In the end, Jack is unable to learn more about his great grandfather after whom he is named. He and his work have vanished.

In the epilogue, the author reflects on how disappearance is a familiar fact Armenians have had to live with since 1915. Shirinian explores this in its various dimensions in relation to his own life.

Blue Heron Press (2025)