THE LEGACY OF LOST THINGS

The Legacy of Lost Things follows three generations of a family of Armenian immigrants living in the United States, as they struggle with one another and against the Old World expectations of their community. When Araxi, the oldest daughter of the desperately unhappy Levon and Tamar, goes missing, the remaining family members are forced to confront their painful histories together, and the role each of them has played in driving Araxi away. Through Araxi and her family, readers are given a unique look at the generational and cultural tensions that both keep families together and tear them apart.

Debut Novel
Published 2015
Bleeding Heart Publishing
Recipient of the Tololyan Literary Prize

REPRINT COMING 2025.

REVIEWS & QUOTES

“A lyrical description of a family’s search for their daughter and for their humanity.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“What ensues is a tragic and powerful tale of love and hate, tragedy and rebirth. Zilelian’s prose is lyrical at times, but for the most part she crafts a purposely flat realism that perfectly complements her subject matter.”
– Christopher Atamian, The Huffington Post

“The Legacy of Lost Things is a beautifully written and artfully constructed novel that explores the intimate lives of several generations of an Armenian immigrant family in America. Aida Zilelian has the superior novelist’s combination of equanimity and empathy. In deceptively simple prose, she takes you right to the heart of the matter.
– Aram Sayoran, internationally known poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist, playwright and the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts poetry awards 

“I thus found it a relief to open up Aida Zilelian’s The Legacy of Lost Things, an intimate novel that explores the ways tradition entraps and trauma erupts within a contemporary Armenian American family. Here, historical violence is neither detailed nor ignored, but its legacy runs bone deep.”
– Nancy Agabian, Necessary Fiction

The Legacy of Lost Things follows three generations of a family of Armenian immigrants living in the United States, as they struggle with one another and against the Old World expectations of their community. When Araxi, the oldest daughter of the desperately unhappy Levon and Tamar, goes missing, the remaining family members are forced to confront their painful histories together, and the role each of them has played in driving Araxi away. Through Araxi and her family, readers are given a unique look at the generational and cultural tensions that both keep families together and tear them apart. .

Debut Novel
Published 2015
Bleeding Heart Publishing
Recipient of the Tololyan Literary Prize

REPRINT COMING 2025.

“A lyrical description of a family’s search for their daughter and for their humanity.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“What ensues is a tragic and powerful tale of love and hate, tragedy and rebirth. Zilelian’s prose is lyrical at times, but for the most part she crafts a purposely flat realism that perfectly complements her subject matter.”
– Christopher Atamian, The Huffington Post

“The Legacy of Lost Things is a beautifully written and artfully constructed novel that explores the intimate lives of several generations of an Armenian immigrant family in America. Aida Zilelian has the superior novelist’s combination of equanimity and empathy. In deceptively simple prose, she takes you right to the heart of the matter.
– Aram Sayoran, internationally known poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist, playwright and the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts poetry awards 

“I thus found it a relief to open up Aida Zilelian’s The Legacy of Lost Things, an intimate novel that explores the ways tradition entraps and trauma erupts within a contemporary Armenian American family. Here, historical violence is neither detailed nor ignored, but its legacy runs bone deep.”
– Nancy Agabian, Necessary Fiction