Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States.
Now he finds himself running a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.
, his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent.
Years ago and worlds away Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation.
As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter.
But when a series of racial incidents disturbs the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again.
Watch a Quick Time interview with Dinaw Mengestu about this book.
Riverhead Books The beautiful things that heaven bears, paperback/dinaw mengestu
