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NOT EVEN MY NAME by
Thea Halo
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| New Icelandic Release!!!  May 2000 Picador USA/ St. Martin's Press In its 3rd edition!  June 2001 Picador USA/ St. Martin's Press Now in its 4th ed.  Greek Translation June 2001 Govostis Publishing Athens, Greece Now in its 10th ed.!  Australian edition May/June 2003 Angel Hat Ink  Dutch Edition September 2003 Arena  New Icelandic Ed November 2004 |
Reviews THE NEW YORK TIMES
"A story of personal strength and the great triumph of
mere survival" WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD "Deeply moving... it is impossible to read the story of this woman's life without marveling at the strength of her spirit." SALEM PRESS "...a triumphant narrative of exceptional magnitude. As an historian, daughter, writer of vivid and arresting prose, and standard bearer of truth, Thea Halo has thus given an invaluable gift to the world." US NEWS & WORLD REPORT - TOP PICK A survivor's tale from Turkish death marches in 1920 that killed thousands of ethnic Greeks. Young Themia lost family, freedom, even her name - changed to Sano by her cruel mistress. Her daughter tells the sad story with simple grace. PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY - STARRED REVIEW "The harrowing story of the slaughter of two million Pontic Greeks and Armenians in Turkey after WWI comes to vivid life" in this memoir by the daughter of a survivor, who has written "an eloquent and powerful account of this tragic chapter in Turkish history." BOOKLIST - STARRED REVIEW "An unforgettable book" - Hazel Rochman Booklist also recommends for teens: YA: The child refugee story, the mother-daughter bond, the teenage arranged marriage, will grab teens' interest --HR In telling her mother's epic story of survival and ultimate triumph in America, Thea Halo has written an important book about a largely unknown history: the genocide of the Pontic Greeks at the hands of the Turkish government in the years following World War I. Halo's deeply moving portrait of her mother reverberates with large moral issues that affect us all. - Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate As written by her daughter Thea, Sano Halo's harrowing account of the destruction of her family and her world is told with such vivid detail that every page sears the mind and the heart. Not Even My Name is a work of burning intensity, self evidently powerful and true. ____________________________________________________________ Not Even My Name is the unforgettable story of Sano Halo's survival of the death march at age 10 that annihilated her family as told to her daughter, Thea and the poignant mother/ daughter pilgrimage to Turkey in search of Sano's home 70 years after her exile. Sano, a Pontic Greek from a mountain village near the Black Sea, also recounts her ancient, pastoral way of life in the Pontic Mountians. The dreadful realization that something was amiss came little by little to Sano's village. Strangers began to inhabit the fields and forests, always watching from a distance like birds of prey. Turkish soldiers made periodic raids to seize men for slave labor in foul, lice-infested labor camps, where most died of disease, malnutrition and exposure. Then in the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers pounded on doors with the butts of their rifles and shouted General Mustafa Kemal's (Ataturk) proclamation: "You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry " On their death march, victims lay where they fell and buzzards hung above their heads. So ended the 3,000 year history of the Pontic Greeks in Turkey. Stripped of everything she had ever held dear, even her name, at age 15 Sano was sold into marriage to a man who brought her to America. He was three times her age. Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children, and her transformation from an innocent girl who lived an ancient way of life in a remote place, to a nurturing mother and determined woman in twentieth-century New York City. Although Turkey actively
suppresses the truth about the slaughter of
almost 3 million
of its Christian minorities - Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian - during and after World War I, and the exile of millions of others, here is a rare, firsthand account of the horrors of that genocide. But Sano's story is also one of triumph; a brilliant and mesmerizing memoir written in haunting and eloquent prose, Not Even My Name weaves a seamless texture of individual memory that evokes all the suspense and drama of the best told tales Copyright: March 2002, Thea Halo. All rights reserved. |
NEWS
FLASH!!! See Newsletter for details of Awards and Resolutions AWARDS Thea Halo wins the AHEPA 2002 Homer ____________________ Sano 'Themia' Halo wins the AHEPA 2002 Freedom Award ____________________  Sano Themia Halo wins NY Governor's Award for Excellence ____________________  Sano and Thea meet the president of Greece ____________________ PROCLAMATIONS NY Gov. Pataki recognizes Pontian Genocide ____________________ NY State Governor George E. Pataki Proclaims 80th Anniversary of Persecution of Greeks of Asia Minor ____________________ Three new Pontian/Asia Minor Proclamations from South Carolina ____________________ Rep. Carolyn Maloney speaks of Sano Halo and Not Even My Name on the Congressional Record ____________________ New Jersey Senate and Assembly recognize the Pontian Genocide ____________________ Two New Georgia Proclamations honor Sano and Thea Halo and a Resolution ____________________ Three New Resolutions from Florida ____________________ New Resolution from Pennsylvania ____________________ New Resolution from City of Cleveland ____________________ New Resolution from the Senate of New York ____________________ |
