Ariel Djanikian Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Ariel Djanikian is an American published author.

She was born in the city of Philadelphia. When she was older, she attended the University of Pennsylvania before going on to the University of Michigan and graduating with an MFA. She is also the former recipient of a Fulbright grant as well as a Meijer Fellowship, a Cowden Award, and a Hopwood Award.

Ariel is the author of such books as The Office of Mercy and The Prospectors, which became a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick. The writing that she has done has been featured in publications and places such as Glimmer Train, Tin House, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Millions, and The Rumpus.

Ariel has lived in a variety of places throughout the course of her life. In addition to Philadelphia, she has resided in Ann Arbor, Madison, Wisconsin, Irvine, California, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The Armenian-American author is married and lives with her husband and children close to DC. She is an instructor on fiction writing at Georgetown University.

The Office of Mercy is a 2014 novel by Ariel Djanikian. If you love a good unique science fiction work, then you might really enjoy this post-apocalyptic story that Flavorwire called ‘cool and compelling’. Love books like The Hunger Games or just have a soft spot for the genre of dystopian fantasy? This might be the right story for you. If you have enjoyed the works of authors such as Suzanne Collins or George Orwell, this might be the ‘flavor of the week’ that you’re looking for.

This story is set in America-Five. In this place, there is the lack of the bad things that have typically haunted the human race. The citizens of this place live in a high-tech utopia that was set up after the global catastrophe simply called ‘the Storm’ changed the planet, radically altering everything forever.

Natasha Wiley is 24 years old and she works in the Office of Mercy. She is given the task of humanely terminating (otherwise known as ‘sweeping’) the nomadic survivors of the Storm who live Outside. She picks a select team and then goes Outside for the first time, and as she does, she starts to get to the bottom of the mysteries around the Storm as well as the elders who run America-Five. Will she be able to find out what really went on or is she putting herself into a world of danger? Read this fascinating book from Ariel Djanikian to find out!

The Prospectors is a 2023 novel by Ariel Djanikian. Want to read something new from a fresher voice in fiction? Check out this rags to riches story that is all about finding the American dream as it follows along with a family that has been completely changed by the Klondike Gold Rush.

Celeste Ng says that this book is told ‘in glimmering prose and rich with historical detail’, while Chris Bohjalian simply described it as ‘Smart, surprising, and epic’. Pick up a copy of this book and turn to the first page to start off an epic tale that will have you reading along with every word until you get to the end.

Main character Alice Bush is the middle daughter of some fruit farmers in California who are struggling to make it. As a result, she has gotten used to feeling inferior and the fact that they have little money. But then her older sister’s husband hits gold in the Yukon Territory. Just like that, Alice decides to join up with a bunch of white settlers who are making the journey to the Klondike, starting a family quest for wealth that will go on for generations that takes place against the backdrop of California’s oilfields and the cold Canadian wilderness.

Nearly 100 years later in 2015, Alice has a great-great-granddaughter named Anna. She’s going to have to deal with moral conflict as well as questions of justice as she makes her way to the Klondike to give her inheritance to the First Nations peoples.

See the Klondike and the state of California as it is at the turn of the century come to life. As the American dream and its effects over generations get described, readers will often be interested in this story of family loyalty and pursuit of riches as it takes twists and turns over the years, detailing how the Gold Rush era changed everything for one family in particular. Read The Prospectors by Ariel Djanikian to follow along with every word!