The Infidel

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Two recent letters to the editor of The New York Times, one from a
Turkish official, the other from an officer of the Armenian Assembly of
America, expressed opposing views of the events of 1915–1917, during
which more than a million Christian Armenians in Turkey were eliminated
under orders from the Turkish government. The subject has current
interest, in part, because of Turkey’s aspirations to join the
European Union and its continued denial of the massacres. Hamilton’s
Pierre Piccard leaves little doubt in his first novel about which side
of the dispute he is on. Piccard has extensive knowledge of the Middle
East and the roots of Turkish and Armenian history. He speaks both
Turkish and Arabic and currently teaches theology at a university in the
area.

There are two intertwining threads to The Infidel. The narrator, Tarik,
is a modern, middle-class Turkish reporter whose knowledge of his own
past is, at best, murky. He is introduced to Jesus, one of the last of
the Chaldean Christians of Turkey, a minority which, like the Armenians,
was all but eliminated by the Turkish authorities during World War I.
Tarik’s intent is to conduct a series of interviews with Jesus, who is
called “Infidel” because of his non-Muslim beliefs, and write an
article about the Chaldeans’ place in Turkish history. Piccard says in
a postscript that “the story of Jesus the Infidel is so true, that
even I am unable to determine where fiction takes over from fact.”
Tarik accompanies Jesus on a journey through Turkish Kurdistan on a
search for the burial grounds of his murdered family. While on this
pilgrimage, Tarik is introduced to much of his own past—to the point
where he realizes that he and the old man are much more than friends.

Those interested in the controversial subject of the Armenian genocide
will find much in this book to help their understanding. Piccard writes
well and has the ability to explain clearly a difficult and troubling
period.