Customer Reviews

Sweetness in the Belly

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Sweetness in the Belly is the moving and heart-warming story of Lilly Abdal. Told in her own words, it adds to it a special liveliness, directness and authenticity. Camilla Gibb has succeeded in creating a rich and detailed account of the life of a young woman caught between cultures and identities. It is also a love story at different levels. Her narrative alternates between periods during the four dramatic years in Ethiopia and those during ten years in London, after leaving Ethiopia in 1974, at the end of Emperor Haile Selassi's reign. Gibb's novel is fast moving and particularly compelling in its portrayal of Lilly's life in the holy city of Harar. At the same time, she is conveying in-depth insights into the respective realities there and in England and establishes the religious and cultural context that surround the heroine with great subtlety and credibility.

Lilly, born in England but, after the murder of her peripatetic parents in Morocco, remains there and is raised at a Muslim shrine by the Great Abdal, a Sufi teacher, to become a devout Muslim. She is eight years old. When forced to leave Morocco at the age of sixteen due to political upheavals, she embarks on a pilgrimage across the Sahara desert to the ancient holy city of Harar in Ethiopia. Not being accepted as a white girl in the household of the local sheikh, she is sent off to live with a poor cousin of one of his wives. Nouria, single mother of four, subsists in a shack in a deprived part of town. Gibb evokes the sounds and smells of the place, creating an authentic portrait of the harsh life of its inhabitants. Nouria and the neighbours start off being hostile of this "farenji" who knows the Qur'an better than they do. It takes Lilly considerable time and effort to be accepted. Seeking to belong where she can feel emotionally an physically safe, she immerses herself completely in their world and accepts the customs of her surroundings. Through Lilly's eyes the reader is introduced to a culture, rich in tradition and rituals. Not all of them are acceptable to Lilly, given her Sufi upbringing and she argues against them. Political developments in Ethiopia and a new circle of friends also challenge her traditional beliefs and behaviour. When she develops romantic feelings for the young attractive doctor she has to chart out her own way.

Alternating with accounts of her time in Harar, as she grows into an adult (1970-1974), Lilly narrates her life in London, beginning fifteen years after leaving Ethiopia. Now working as a nurse and living in a poor housing estate, she remains an outsider who does not fit into British reality. Committed to preserve her religion and her Ethiopian culture, she befriends Amina, her Ethiopian refugee neighbour and creates an oasis of "home" around them. While Amina and her family adjust more and more to the western lifestyle, Lilly clings to the memories of her previous life and the people in it. But developments force her to reassess and look into the future rather than hanging on to the past. Will she be able to do it?

Gibb's rendering of the East African refugee scene is as realistic as her portrayal of conditions in Harar. Her novel is grounded and enriched by her thorough research and personal experiences with the cultures and the places she evokes. Ethiopians went through famine and deprivations during the early 1907s, a time that ended in the uprising against and eventual removal of the Emperor. Gibb brings this context into the novel without overburdening the reader. She finds a convincing balance between the personal and the general keeping the book a page turner from beginning to end. [Friederike Knabe]

On one level, this beautiful book is a love story. But it is set against a terrible history of conflict, persecution, genocide, and famine. The unlikely friendships that spring up between people of different backgrounds do not come easily, nor does love always promise a storybook ending. For although much of the book takes place in London in the 1980s, its emotional core is rooted in the years leading up to the terrible events surrounding the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1974. [The details of this political upheaval are by no means clear from the book, and they are not easy to understand by looking up "Ethiopia" on Wikipedia either -- though I urge interested readers to try.]

Camilla Gibb, an Englishwoman who has worked in Ethiopia as a social anthropologist, has chosen an unlikely but apt perspective for her protagonist, Lilly. Born of hippie parents, an English father and Irish mother, Lilly was taken from country to country, and was still a young child when her parents were murdered in Morocco. There, she was taken in by a Sufi scholar and trained in the Qur'an (with an additional diet of English literature supplied by an expatriate acquaintance). The upshot is that she arrives in the ancient city of Harar in Ethiopia on a pilgrimage while still in her teens, and stays there, living in relative poverty and eking out a living as a teacher, a "farenji" or foreigner in appearance, but a more knowledgeable devotee of Islam than most of the people around her. When civil war breaks out, she is forced to flee, only one of numerous Ethiopians to be torn from family and loved ones.

The book opens a decade after these events, which are established in outline within the first few pages. Lilly is living in London, working as a nurse, and (with a fellow Ethiopian refugee) running the local branch of an agency to reunite family members with one another. These sections of the novel, which alternate smoothly with African flashbacks, are similar to numerous other books about immigrant assimilation by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Monica Ali, though Gibb has her own voice of tender sorrow. The paradox is that English-born Lilly is more reluctant to assimilate than her Ethiopian friend Amina. But all the characters have their own traumas, and they each find healing in different ways.

I was not sure that I would like this book at first. It starts with a rather over-written introduction, then plunges into a description of an emergency childbirth scene that is hard to get into focus. Gibb tends to do this -- throwing a scene at you so suddenly that you wonder if you have missed some essential preparation -- but each episode supports the others, and she creates an amazing feeling of immediacy and authenticity. The same with her use of language: she is free with her use of foreign words, often without translation; the effect is like learning a language by the immersion method. While other writers throw in foreign words merely for local color, keeping the reader essentially on the outside looking in, Gibb makes you feel on the inside looking out. Her success in convincing me of the texture of daily life among women in a Islamic country is even greater than the best passages in Khaled Hosseini's A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. For a sensitive inner look at how it feels to be a devout Muslim woman in the western world, I can only compare this to Leila Aboulela's fine but simpler novel THE TRANSLATOR, which I recommend to anybody who has enjoyed this book.

This beautifully written and impeccably researched tale contains a wealth of information about the battered country of Ethiopia and the strength and resilience of its people. It is obvious that Camilla Gibb had first-hand experience in the field and has the highest regard for those who went through the terrible years of war, famine, upheaval and dictatorship.

Sweetness in the Belly personalizes this unthinkable social and political tragedy so that we have an inside view into the life of Lilly, a privileged Muslim woman with an ill-fated attraction for Aziz, a doctor and a man of another class.

The book goes back and forth between Ethiopia and England as Lilly reflects back on early years in her homeland before she was forced to flee. It is a testament to human nature that anyone can survive the atrocities that were perpetrated on these blameless souls, and can emerge with any kindness, decency and dreams for the future. That makes this a book of hope with a wealth of fascinating information, although at heart, it's also just a great story.

I'll be looking for more books by Gibb, after I've watched some lightweight comedies on DVD that will serve as a buffer from reading about so much pain.

Sigrid Macdonald
Ottawa, Ontario

I just finished this book-- wow, what an amazing read!! Gibb is such a talented writer, and this story is touching and sad and hopeful and beautiful all at once. Lilly is an orphaned British girl who grows up as a Muslim in Africa, and this is the story of her trying to fit in in different places, falling in love with the wrong people, dealing with grief and loss in her life-- she might be a Muslim and lives in Africa, but her story feels so familiar to anyone anywhere. I kept trying to slow down so I wouldn't finish so quickly, but I couldn't put this book down. I completely fell in love with this novel, I recommend it to anyone who loved The Kite Runner, Secret Life of Bees, or Brick Lane by Monica Ali.

Cross cultural consciousness as never been more pronounced in Camilla Gibb's lovely but melancholic novel Sweetness in the Belly. Eight-year-old Lilly is the child of self-confessed hippy parents whose desire is travel stoned through Europe and North Africa. They spend their time holed-up in seedy hotels, never staying in a place long enough to establish roots. When they are inexplicably murdered at a Sufi shrine in Bilal al Habash, Lilly is devastated. Orphaned and with no home to be sent to and no relatives that she knows of, she is placed under the tutelage of her parents friend, the large fellow Englishman and Islamic convert Mohammed Bruce.

Unmoored and desperately searching, Lilly replaces the loss of her parents with love and Islam, drawn to the spiritual voices of the Qur'an. And with the support of the guide Great Abdal, she is shown orthodox ways and the saints and the stable of mystical seekers who gather around him.

A change in government causes Lilly to be packed off on a pilgrimage to the ancient city of Harar, in Ethiopia. Abandoned and more or less left to fend for herself, she finds shelter with Nouria a desperately poor Ethiopian woman and mother of two, who lives in compound on the outskirts of the city. Life for Lilly, however, is anything but sanguine; she spends much of her time sleeping on a dirt floor, whilst helping Nouria feed her children.

She steadily settles into a life of routine, helping brush away goat waste, and dead cockroaches, and pouring petrol over thresholds to deter flies. She makes endless stews with contaminated water in giant cauldrons, observes firsthand the horrors of female circumcision, and gathers around the squat shrine once a week to celebrate the saint and his miracles. Eventually she teaches local kids to read the Qur'an.

But Lilly is always an exile a "Falasha" a landless one, uncivilized in the ways of the place, and always treading on alien soil, almost "tiptoeing so as not to leave footprints." She may be educated in the ways of traditional Islam, but the women-folk are weary of her in this strange and insular world of superstition and conformity. When Lilly witnesses the horrors of female circumcision, she realizes just how different she is.

This is a world where the local people are suspicious of outsiders, and where the doctor is the last resort in a community where midwives and faith healers and herbalists rule. Lilly is initially shocked at their preference for traditional practices, deferring to the things they know, and that they feel insulted by the suggestion of alternatives, especially Western ones.

She eventually falls in love with the plainspoken and dark-skinned Doctor Aziz, who comes to the aid of a botched circumcision. Aziz, with his kindly and self-effacing ways, makes her feel different, stirred, compelled, and vaguely anxious, and most of all he makes her challenge her religious practices. "I craved the dark with this man and compromising the only thing that mattered and that was to be near him." As their passion begins to ignite, Lilly gradually loosens her grip on her dogmatic religious beliefs.

It is only when Lilly is exiled to England in the 1980's that she realizes how much she misses Aziz - it has been years since she has heard from him. Now working as a nurse for the National Health Service in a hospital largely catering to the poor from the beleaguered Brixton housing estates, Lilly lives a sad, bitter and resentful life in a one-bedroom council flat.

She spends much of her spare time as a refugee worker, trying to reconnect displaced Ethiopian exiles with their relatives in the aftermath of revolution, and she readily admits that as a white Moslem raised in Africa now living in London, she exists "somewhere between the past and the future which is not quite the present." Together with her best friend and fellow exile Amina, they re-enacts rituals, and keep the traditions of home alive in government housing.

Author Camilla Gibb beautifully alternatives between Lilly's two worlds, bringing the sights, sounds and smells of Harar, and also the immigrant community of central London, to life. When Lilly first arrives in Harar she is assaulted by what she sees around her: it's a city "already in second gear," toothless old women, shrunken old men, expressionless Sufis clinging to their wool blankets, and oily mothers standing in doorways with babies on their hips.

The descriptions of life in run-down housing estate are equally evocative: Lilly desperately tries to hold onto her past, burning incense over coals, and roasting coffee beans in tin plates. Lilly longs for an easier time, when being Moslem was rigid and rule bound and the where the past belonged clearly to a pre-Islamic era. She neither fits into the West or the East, and she finds herself feeling as though she has lost something - "lost hope and no dream for the future anymore, embedded in the old world, unwilling to let go." She still hopes and preys that one day Aziz will come to her.

Gibb is a writer of exquisite sensibilities as she combines faith, memory and longing into an exotic tale of past and present, where life and death, religion and passion co-exist, entwined for eternity. For Lilly, faith has accompanied her over time and geography and upheaval - from Morocco, to Ethiopia and then on to England and it's a faith that has irrevocably bound her to her Muslim neighbours. Her life has been obviously been fraught with much disappointment and turmoil, but only by coming to terms with the strictures of the past can Lilly hope to breathe life into her future. Mike Leonard April 06.

While this book is a novel it rings true. The characters come to life in the reading and wrap themselves around your heart. You are angry, sad, and touched by them and their lives. A good read. Having lived in the Amharic portion of Ethiopia at a time just prior to the time of the novel, it had special meaning for me.

A story of an English-woman raised in Morocco in traditional Sufi ways, who later takes on a pilgrimage to
the sacred city of Harar in Ethiopia and then later immigrates back to England. An outsider in both, Muslim Africa and England, she
straggles to assert her place. Finally as she manages to fit herself in Harar and falls in love with idealistic doctor, the country
embarks on a civil war and she finds herself in England separated from him. Living among Ethiopian refuges she organizes, with
her friend, refuge community center, which help reunite separated families. It all happens on a back drop of her inability to fit in
the modern British life, search for her lover and depression enveloping her mind. Until she finally learns about his death and makes
peace with her memory.

All these petty details fail to convey great sensitivity expressed in this book. Its language is simple and
concise, and not very poetic, but what sets this book apart is the story and its perfect pace. It is really amazing to almost feel
characters coming to life from the pages of the book. So realistic they appear, that one develops sort of spooky sense of familiarity,
as if having them in ones life. This is very much unlike intellectual narratives of, for example Umberto Ecco. Somehow, by simple means
Camilla Gibb manages to engage the reader in a deep, emotional way. Highly recommended.

dipped in cultural experiences, love and living life in different types of economic and cultural places...I thought this was real, very well written with beautiful prose.
Makes me want to read more of this writer.

The voice of Lily is so real, so authentic, so rich in ethnic detail that one is immediately drawn into this imagined story of a woman displaced in two worlds. Stage actress Kate Reading gives an affecting voice reading, capturing all of the erudition and emotion found within this remarkable protagonist.

The daughter of English/Irish parents who spend much of their time in a drug induced haze, young Lily is very much left to herself, free to find amusement on the streets of Morocco. One day she is abandoned by her parents at a Sufi shrine, saying they will return in three days.

That day never comes as they are found slain several weeks later. With no one to shelter her Lily is taken under the wing of an Englishman who has converted to Islam. At the age of eight the child's life begins anew as she will live in the shrine and spend her days in religious study.

At the age of sixteen when many girls are thinking about buying prom. dresses Lily travels to Ethiopia where she teaches the Qur'an to local children. Once again the color of her skin betrays her, and she is an outsider there. Nonetheless, she falls in love with a young doctor.

Years later the outbreak of war forces her to seek refuge in London where as a woman she is again an outsider. Yet, it is her faith that sustains her.

Sweetness in the Belly offers a telling portrait of a far away world that few of us will ever see. Listen and enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

This is a very enjoyable novel: peopled with vibrant characters and exploring both age old human themes and contemporary issues. The underlying political realities and social issues provide an authenticity to the setting without overwhelming the story.

At its heart, `Sweetness in the Belly' is the story of Lilly Abdal's search for self, for love and for a place of belonging. From Harar in Ethiopia to a low income housing project in London, we are immersed in the lives and challenges of Lilly and her friends and acquaintances. The challenges of being `different' and the measures of belonging will be of interest to some readers. This novel provides readers with both a well-written story and, for those so minded, some rich terrain for considering experiences of dislocation.
The juxtaposition of cultures, even where there is a common religion is one of the themes I found irresistible. How individuals adapt to dislocation and find new paths in unfamiliar terrain is an important part of the journey both for Lilly and for the East Africans in London.

Ultimately, Lilly does find enduring love, a sense of self and a place of belonging. The journey we take with her, as readers, is well worth the investment.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith