At the age of 13, Yerwant left his home in the Anatolian hills of Turkey to study at an Armenian boarding school in Venice. Now, in May 1915, after forty years, he is planning a reunion with his family at their homestead. But while preparations for Yerwant's arrival are being made in the town, Italy enters the Great War and closes its borders.

At the age of thirteen, Yerwant left his home in the Anatolian hills of Turkey to study at an Armenian boarding school in Venice. Now, in May 1915, after forty years, he is planning a long-awaited reunion with his family at their homestead, Skylark Farm. But while joyful preparations for Yerwant's arrival are being made in the town of his birth, Italy enters the Great War and closes its borders. At the same time, in Turkey, Yerwant's family begins a brutal odyssey of hunger and humiliation at the hands of the Young Turks who are determined to rid their nation of minorities.Fighting brutality with love, courage and hope, four of the family's children set out on a dangerous and daring course of their own: to reach Yerwant, and safety, in Italy.

'In Arslan's hands, the gruesome details of this tragedy are palliated by an old-fashioned story of redemption... Skylark Farm is an affecting book, and sensitively translated by Geoffrey Brook.' New York Times Books Review 'An Armenian Schindler's List.' Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) 'This soul-shaking novel feels like a masterpiece.' Booklist (Starred Review)