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Sweetness in the Belly

A Novel

By Camilla Gibb

(7)

| Hardcover | 9781594200847

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Book Description

An evocative and richly imagined story of a British Muslim woman's search for love and belonging in two very different worlds.

When Lilly is eight years old, her pot-smoking hippie British parents leave her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco and inform her they will be back to collect her in threContinue

An evocative and richly imagined story of a British Muslim woman's search for love and belonging in two very different worlds.

When Lilly is eight years old, her pot-smoking hippie British parents leave her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco and inform her they will be back to collect her in three days. Three weeks later, she learns they've been murdered. Lilly fills that haunted hollow in her life with intense study and memorization of the Qur'an under the patient care of the Sufi saint's disciple she was entrusted to. Years later, her journey from Morocco to Harar, Ethiopia, is half pilgrimage, half flight. In Harar, even her very traditional Muslim head scarves cannot hide her white skin in her new and strange surroundings; the word "farenji"--foreigner--is hissed at her everywhere she turns. She eventually builds a life for herself teaching children the Qur'an, and she finds herself falling in love with an idealistic young doctor. But the two are wrenched apart when Lilly is again forced to flee, for her safety and his, this time to London. Despite her British roots, Lilly discovers she is as much an outsider in London as a Muslim as she was in Harar as a white foreigner.

Gibb's haunting narrative takes us seamlessly on a journey between these two distinct worlds: the ancient walled city of Harar and the racially charged atmosphere of 1980s London. Gibb richly evokes the stinging disconnect between Lilly's past life and her present life, between her attempts to start anew and her inability to let go of the past. Lilly's story is laced with longing and regret, but above all hope--hope that time and love can heal the rifts of her turbulent past. Camilla Gibb has pulled off an astounding feat with this stunning novel; never has the distinct and troubled history of this corner of Ethiopia been told with such humanity, warmth, clarity, and grace.

Critics

  • A homage to Islam

    Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb 320pp, Heinemann, £12.99 "I am a white Muslim woman raised in Africa, now employed by the National Health Service," declares Lily, the protagonist of Camilla Gibb's third novel, which shifts between a concrete c ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Sweetness in the Belly

    Sweetness in the Belly Camilla Gibb Penguin Paperback 368 pages March 2007 Eight-year-old Lilly is the child of self-confessed English hippy parents whose only desire is to travel stoned through Europe and North Africa. Most of the time they spend ho ... (read full critics)

    curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • Camilla Gibb takes you on a journey through Lilly's life in Ethiopia and her new life in London. Although Lilly is born to an English father and Irish mother, she is taught the Qur'an and lives as a Muslim. When she arrives in Harar, she begins to teach the children of Nouri, a woman who gives her ... (continue)

    Camilla Gibb takes you on a journey through Lilly's life in Ethiopia and her new life in London. Although Lilly is born to an English father and Irish mother, she is taught the Qur'an and lives as a Muslim. When she arrives in Harar, she begins to teach the children of Nouri, a woman who gives her a home. Her skills are noticed by other inhabitants and Lilly is soon teaching several children of different abilities. When one of Nouri's children is taken ill after circumcision by a local midwife, Lilly meets Aziz the doctor, and he invites Lilly to partake in berchas on Saturday afternoons. They fall in love and eventually Lilly has to leave for England as it is not safe for her to remain in Ethiopia.
    In London, Lilly works as a nurse but she also runs an independant agency for Ethiopians to find long lost loved ones and relatives. Her friend Amina finds her husband in Rome and he returns with Amina to England, but it is a year or so before they can function properly as a family. Yussuf's memories from prison are too vivid and it takes him time to learn to live a normal life again. In the meantime a doctor at the hospital where Lilly works shows an interest in Lilly, but she cannot pursue this until she finds out what has happened to Aziz.
    A beautiful tale of love and hope. We are also given a glimpse of the history and politics of that time in Ethiopia.

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    Booketta said on Mar 27, 2011 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 352 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 159420084X
  • ISBN-13: 9781594200847
  • Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
  • Pub date: Mar 16, 2006
  • Dimensions: 1419 mm x 1032 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Paperback, Audio CD, Others and eBook
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