Sweetness in the Belly

In Thatcher's "London", Lilly, a white Muslim nurse, struggles in a state of invisible exile. As Ethiopian refugees gradually fill the flats of the housing estate where she lives, Lilly tentatively begins to share with them her longing for the home she herself once had in Africa and her heartbreaking search for her missing lover. Back in Haile Selassie's "Ethiopia", the young Lilly, born in the 1950s to British parents, now orphaned and full of religious conviction, finds herself living in the city of Harar. She is drawn to the idealistic young doctor, Aziz, himself an outsider in the community. But then convulsions of a new revolutionary order separate them, sending Lilly to an England she has never seen, while Aziz disappears. Camilla Gibb's evocation of the distinctive world of the ancient city and of its unique religion and culture is vivid and rich. She draws us just as completely into the mind of the older Lilly, emotionally paralysed by her loss. The result is a fascinating and remarkably moving portrayal of a life lived at the cusp of two cultures.

ISBN 0099499193   Pages 432 ISBN13 9780099499190 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 312 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Vintage   Height (mm) 198 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 131 Publication date 01 Feb 2007   Spine width (mm) 27 DEWEY 813.6   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

A wonderful feat of imagination and empathy. I had to suppress bitter feelings of literary envy, even as I couldn't stop devouring it. (Louis de Berni?res, author of "Captain Corelli's Mandolin")

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