Before they moved at Christmas, my good friend Janice gave me a gift certificate to Books-a-Million, on the condition that I buy a book that helps remind me of her. I had a hard time coming up with one; our reading tastes don’t always coincide: she enjoys mostly historical fiction, non-fiction, and biographies. I don’t usually. I looked through the store, and stumbled across The Road From Home, by David Kheridan. It’s the true story of his mother, an Armenian living in Turkey in the early 1900s and her personal experience with the Armenian massacres by the Turkish people. It’s a powerfully simple book. It’s written from his mother’s (Veron’s) point of view, and her simple faith and hope that got her through all the terrible times she experienced. Yes, she was one of the lucky ones: she survived, though her siblings and grandfather died of cholera, her mother died of grief, her father had a heart-attack while working for the Turks and she saw her cousins killed by a bomb. So, life for her was no picnic in the park. Still, I was humbled and awed by her faith, her perseverance and cheerfulness in the face of adversity. I’m sure Janice would enjoy my selection, too.