How can a person survive the killing fields of Anatolia in World War I, only to live a saintly life in a small Türkmen village of Tülmen, in southeast Turkey? The Saint of Tülmen is the story of an Armenian girl, nicknamed Tamara, who survived forced relocation against all odds, dedicating the rest of her life to caring, healing and reconciliation. Tamara becomes Ülmühan, finding fulfillment in mystical Islam.
In Ontario, the sweetheart of Tamara's youth, Yusuf Ali, is declared an 'alien enemy' and relocated to a POW camp. Tamara's love is what keeps him alive.
Ülmühan, and Yusuf are two innocent victims of the atrocities of the Great War. Their youth and love destroyed, they meet, in their twilight years, for an emotional reckoning in Urfa, in modern Turkey. In her saintly life, Ülmühan finds self-liberation through compassion and caring for others, starting with forgiveness. What the two sweethearts lost in their youthful years; they rediscover in the fulfillment of old age.
The Saint of Tülmen is fiction, set in actual historical context using Canadian and Ottoman/Turkish evidence collected over four years of research.
