Name: The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears
ISBN: 9781594489402

Dinaw Mengestu

Seventeen years after fleeing the Ethiopian revolution, Sepha Stephanos runs a grocery store in a poor African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where he reflects on his past and the differences between his prospects and the life he imagined.

The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears

Chris Dailey

Touching and intimate portrayal of the immigrant experience in Washington DC and America writ large. Following the trajectory of an Ethiopian immigrant living and operating a small grocery in DC's actively gentrifying Logan Circle neighbor, the story traces his friendships with two other Africans as well as a new neighbor and her daughter. Through parallel tracks of present and flashbacks, the novel touches on friendship, companionship, home, foreignness, gentrification, politics, race and community. The grandiose topics are approached with subtly and a personal perspective. Almost as much a tale about a city as it is an experience of an individual, the novel elevates DC to a prominent character that is as trouble, beautiful and complicated as anyone else.

Fellowes Cynthia

I just finished this book and my entire body is embraced by the beauty of the writing of this author. It was a slow, endearing ride - I was willing to go along with the narrative and was eventually pulled in by the utter depth and sensitivity and emotions of this story. Just adored it. It touched an emotional core.

The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears

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