Overview

An exhilarating and tragicomic debut novel about the indomitable child of a scorned, formerly land-owning family in the wake of Ethiopia's socialist revolution. 'Extraordinary' Maaza Mengiste 'Exhilarating' Elif Batuman Selam is the youngest child in a large turbulent family. Even before she is born, her omniscience animates life in a Small Town in 1980s southwestern Ethiopia. Selam and her father listen to the radio in secret as the socialist military junta that recently overthrew the government seizes properties and wages civil war in the North. The Asmelashes, once an enterprising, land-owning family, are ostracized under the new regime. In the Small Town where they live, nosy women convene around coffee ceremonies multiple times a day, the gossip spreading like wildfire. As Selam's mother, the powerful and relentlessly dignified Degitu, grows ill, she embraces a persecuted, Pentecostal God and insists her family convert alongside her. The Asmelashes stand solidly in opposition to the times, and Selam grows up seeking revenge on despotic comrades, neighbourhood bullies, and a ruthless God. Wise beyond her years yet thoroughly naive, she contends with an inner fury, a profound sadness, and a throbbing, unstoppable pursuit of education, freedom, and love. The History of a Difficult Child is about what happens when mother, God, and country are at odds, and how one difficult child finds her voice.

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9781784744373

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Reviews

An extraordinary novel. At once a story of a sharp-witted young girl trying to hold herself together during political upheaval, and an achingly tender tale of community, family, grief and forgiveness -- Maaza Mengiste, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of THE SHADOW KING A major new writing talent. Not only does the novel confront history, masculinity and gender in refreshing but uncompromising ways, it also has a remarkably original voice, fresh and irreverent. Sibhat will soon be one of the most influential voices in the literature of Africa -- Chris Abani, author of GRACELAND A brilliant powerhouse of a novel, an incandescent read from an electrifying writer -- Patricia Hampl, author of THE ART OF THE WASTED DAY Selam, Mihret Sibhat's ferociously witty young narrator, depicts her family's religious and political struggles in Ethiopia in extraordinarily rich and original prose... Deeply moving as well as hilarious. A one-of-a-kind must-read debut -- Julie Schumacher, author of DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS An unexpected and hilarious voice with a velocity all its own... razor-sharp. Tender and merciless, full of human and political insight. I couldn't stop turning the pages -- V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of BROTHERLESS NIGHT

Author Information

Mihret Sibhat was born and raised in a small town in western Ethiopia before moving to California when she was seventeen. A graduate of University of Minnesota's MFA program, she was a 2019 Public Space Fellow and a 2019 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grantee. In a previous life, she was a waitress, a nanny, an occasional shoe shiner, a propagandist, and a terrible gospel singer. She's currently a miserable Arsenal fan.

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