The Prospectors

This family saga unfolds against the backdrop of the famous gold rush. Alice comes from a family of poor farmers, whose relatives have always struggled to survive, never thinking of anything more. But when the husband of her older sister stumbles upon a gold vein in Yukon, everything changes for Alice – she joins the prospectors besieging the Klondike. Thus begins her path to wealth against the snowy landscapes. Alaska is flooded with crowds of newly minted prospectors, while the local indigenous population is relegated to the role of porters and cooks. Smart, determined, and above all, sharply dissatisfied with her life, Alice is willing to do anything to never know poverty again, even if it means paying for it with someone else's life. A hundred years later, her great-granddaughter travels the same route in hopes of restoring justice and, though so many years have passed, somehow redeem the tragedy that occurred during the gold rush days.

«The Prospectors» by Ariel Janikyan is based on the true story of the writer's ancestors, and by immersing herself in their difficult fates, she tries to understand the history of all America and the eternal, yet no less relevant questions: what is kindness and cruelty, power and greed, love and forgiveness, choice and justice.