Newmag Presents the First Book of Narine Abgaryan’s “Manyunya” Trilogy Written for Children Aged From 0 to 100 (Trailer in Armenian)

Narine Abgaryan has been based in Moscow since 1993. She wrote this book at 40 and has immediately become famous. The initial stage of the book was in social media. Later on, the story caught the attention of Astrel publishing house and the book was soon published. “Manyunya” has been awarded with numerous prizes, such as the BABY-HOC prize in 2013. It has also been nominated for the “Big Book” prize. The book has been translated into more than 10 languages; more than 1 million 400 thousand copies of the book were sold. 

Since the sale of the book exceeded all the expectations of the publishers, the story of the girls living in the small Armenian village soon had a continuation. In two years more than 200 thousand copies of the book were sold. Before the Armenian translation, the book has been translated in numerous languages. Moreover, the book was staged in theaters, it has become a movie script. In fact, a movie in Armenian will premiere soon. 

The book was published more than a decade ago, but it is still as relevant as it was 10 years ago. The main reason behind this phenomenon is the sincerity, which is typical for Narine Abgaryan’s literary pieces. The readers living in post-Soviet countries can relate to the events and stories described in the book - camps, music school, Indian movies, vacation on a Black sea beach. All the memories are restored while reading the book.

This touching and also funny story dates back to the 1980s and tells about the friendship between two families of two post-Soviet countries. Narine Abgaryan's book "Manyunya" is addressed to “adult children” and tells about people who have somehow managed to get older. This story seems to offer a retrospective look on Soviet childhood. Not only Armenians, but also the readers in all the CIS countries can definitely relate to this captivating story. That’s the main reason why the book is translated into so many languages. Narine Abgaryan once mentioned.“Childhood is indeed a happiness and it doesn’t really matter which country is described in the book. The emotions are universal.”

“Manyunya” is a story about a little girl who has a big soul. This story comes to reaffirm that friendship should always be cherished. It also comes to claim that sometimes our parents can look at the things in a drastically different viewpoint and it’s not terrible. Also, “Manyunya” is a story about a small Soviet town and its inhabitants. It reminds us that even in the awful conditions, scarce resources and restrictions, people were still able to live their life fully and enjoy the tiniest things in life. This is a story about two friends: Narine and Manyunya, and the strict and kind Ta who is Manyunya's grandmother.

Although Narine's books are very popular amongst children, the author does not agree with the opinion that her books are only for children and teenagers. In fact, she is convinced that she writes for children aged from 0 to 100. The novel, which can be read in just one day, is particularly suggested to women, girls and girl’s dads.The author of the book cover is Narine Muradyan, the author of illustrations is Edik Poghosyan, the book translator is Narine Gijlaryan. The book presentation of “Manyunya” will be held on the 20th of September, in the scope of the “Good Morning” program of Armenia TV.