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 Harare. 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 | 0434014532 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | ISBN13 | 9780434014538
(What's this?) | | Pages | 432 | | Publisher | Cornerstone | | Weight (grammes) | 565 | | Imprint | William Heinemann Ltd | | Published in | London | | Format | Hardback | | Height (mm) | 220 | | Publication date | 02 Feb 2006 | | Width (mm) | 140 | | DEWEY | 813.6 | | Academic level | General |
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Gibb's understanding of this world seems almost uncanny but it is her compassion for her characters that impressed me the most. [Sweetness in the Belly] challenges and disturbs as it enlightens and uplifts. A really exceptional achievement.' Barbara Gowdy 'Gibb is surely one of the most talented writers around... She can do funny, she can do sad, she can do sex. I suspect that there is little that this wonderful women cannot do.' The Times
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