Play Audiobook Sample
Sweetness in the Belly Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.01) - 3,253 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
Lilly, the main character of Camilla Gibb’s stunning new novel, has anything but a stable childhood. The daughter of English/Irish hippies, she was “born in Yugoslavia, breast-fed in the Ukraine, weaned in Corsica, freed from nappies in Sicily and walking by the time [they] got to the Algarve…” The family’s nomadic adventure ends in Tangier when Lilly’s parents are killed in a drug deal gone awry. Orphaned at eight, Lilly is left in the care of a Sufi sheikh, who shows her the way of Islam through the Qur’an. When political turmoil erupts, Lilly, now sixteen, is sent to the ancient walled city of Harar, Ethiopia, where she stays in a dirt-floored compound with an impoverished widow named Nouria and her four children. In Harar, Lilly earns her keep by helping with the household chores and teaching local children the Qur’an. Ignoring the cries of “farenji” (foreigner), she slowly begins to put down roots, learning the language and immersing herself in a culture rich in customs and rituals and lush with glittering bright headscarves, the chorus of muezzins and the scent of incense and coffee. She is drawn to an idealistic half-Sudanese doctor named Aziz, and the two begin to meet every Saturday at a social gathering. As they stay behind to talk, Lilly finds her faith tested for the first time in her life: “The desire to remain in his company overwhelmed common sense; I would pick up my good Muslim self on the way home.” Just as their love begins to blossom, they are wrenched apart when the aging emperor Haile Selassie is deposed by the brutal Dergue regime. Lilly seeks exile in London, while Aziz stays to pursue his revolutionary passions. In London, Lilly’s life as a white Muslim is no less complicated. A hospital staff nurse, she befriends a refugee from Ethiopia named Amina, whose daughter she helped to deliver in a back alley. The two women set up a community association to re-unite refugees with lost family members. Their work, however, isn’t entirely altruistic. Both women are looking for someone: Amina, her husband, Yusuf, and Lilly, Aziz, who remains firmly, painfully, implanted in her heart. The first-person narrative alternates seamlessly between England (1981-91) and Ethiopia (1970-74), weaving a rich tapestry of one woman’s quest to maintain faith and love through revolution, upheaval and the alienation of life in exile. Sweetness in the Belly was universally praised for the tremendous empathy that Gibb brings to an ambitious story. Kirkus Reviews writes that the novel "reflect(s) the pain, cultural relocation and uncertainty of tribal, political and religious refugees the world over. Gibb's territory is urgently modern and controversial but she enters it softly, with grace, integrity and a lovely compassionate story. [It is a] poem to belief and to the displaced–humane, resonant, original, impressive." According to the Literary Review of Canada, Sweetness in the Belly is “…a novel that is culturally sensitive, consummately researched and deeply compassionate…richly imagined, full of sensuous detail and arresting imagery…Gibb has smuggled Western readers into the centre of lives they might never otherwise come into contact with, let alone understand.”
Download and start listening now!
"I was engrossed by the storytelling and totally enjoyed this book. It is well-written and I found it such a surprise that the intimate voice comes from a London-born Torontonian. The story is told by Lilly, a white Muslim nurse, whose life journey takes her from Morocco to Ethiopia to London. The unfolding of her story is well-timed and seamless in its transitions. Lilly is educated by a Sufi in reading and interpreting the Qur'an, and the strength of her faith is less driven by idelogical religion than by the search for the path to God. This is a love story at many levels."
— Kathy (5 out of 5 stars)
Sweetness in the Belly Listener Reviews
-
" I didn't find this storyline gripping and the two settings of London and Harar in Ethiopia didn't always work well for me however I enjoyed reading this book. I was interested to learn more about Ethiopia, Ethiopians and Muslims. "
— Jane, 2/6/2014 -
" I thought the character was very convincing and her experience and story seemed true to me. "
— Kay, 2/3/2014 -
" An interesting book with some insight into the Muslim religion. "
— Lili, 1/30/2014 -
" Enjoyable read. Interesting story. Hard to put down. "
— Sasha, 1/27/2014 -
" Good book. Started off a little slow for me, but then really started going. Set in South Africa. "
— Patrick, 1/27/2014 -
" This is such a great book. I read it on the plane ride over to Thailand and it only took me two days to finish. It is sad but tells of a white woman, who is muslim and fluent in arabic, living in Ethiopia in the 1970s during a corrupt regime. Highly recommend it! "
— Erin, 1/27/2014 -
" Members of my book club adored it, I though it was okay. It is good fiction with a lot of cultural and historical perspective. "
— Jodelle, 1/19/2014 -
" Lilly, a white Muslim nurse, lives amongst fellow Ethiopian refugees while she searches for her missing lover. Flashbacks to her life in Ethiopia describe life leading up to the deposition of the emperor. Good book. "
— Colleen, 1/17/2014 -
" Intense descriptions of loss and longing. I really liked the depictions of friendship, community faith and love. "
— Diana, 1/3/2014 -
" I learned quite a bit about the Muslim culture. "
— Jean, 12/5/2013 -
" Liked the construction; not sure the main character is totally credible; very interesting setting. "
— Anne, 11/28/2013 -
" One of my all time fave books! Loved it - it was exactly the kind of book I like to read... "
— Wendy, 11/25/2013 -
" This didn't really keep me interested despite being a quick read. The ending was too "wrapped up" and some of the characters seemed very flat to me. The cultural descriptions of Ethiopia were fascinating, but not enought to make this a stellar read. "
— Mindy, 11/24/2013 -
" Surprisingly refreshing and captivating. "
— Kate, 10/28/2013 -
" I read this book as part of a class I took at Hollins, and really loved it. It's a beautiful story about a people and place that is rarely written about. Pick it up; you won't be sorry. "
— Denae, 6/26/2013 -
" January 2008 Book Club Selection by Kiri "
— Michelle, 5/12/2013 -
" Read this novel for no other reason than to be "whooshed" away by the stunning language and phrases the author evokes through the characters and their lives. If you happen to come away with a deeper awareness of Ethiopian history and culture, as well as Islamic and Muslim traditions--that's a plus. "
— Judy, 3/8/2013 -
" Very intense read. Beautifully written. "
— Morag, 2/18/2013 -
" Very abrupt ending, but an enjoyable book that shed some light on Islam in Northern Africa. I am intrigued to learn more about what happened in Ethiopia in the 70s politically after this read...I am very ignorant about that subject. "
— Samantha, 1/21/2013 -
" fantastic - thanks jennie for allowing me to borrow it! "
— Brianne, 12/14/2012 -
" Well, I can say more than hundred times, I was so angry at Lily. I wanted to shake her up and tell her to stop believe in a dream and something which is not real at all and look around to see the real world .... "
— Tahereh, 10/6/2012 -
" Loved this book and will read more of this author. I can no longer remember the story ... just that I loved it. "
— Hilary, 4/29/2012 -
" I seem to give most of my books a four but this was one I really enjoyed as it is fiction but gave me more insight into a country and group of people I know little about. Strong women characters. "
— Paulapenkala, 6/18/2011 -
" Best book I've read this year so far. I read the Beauty of Humanity Movement before and liked it so I decided to try reading another one of Camilla Gibb's books. Good call!<br/><br/>I totally understood Lilly and I loved the way her story was presented.<br/><br/>-Phil "
— Phil, 6/11/2011 -
" I loved this book. It was interesting to see the cultural differences between what Liily saw and what other people saw. "
— April, 5/26/2011 -
" Beautifully written. Camilla Gibb intimately portrays the lives of her characters with nuance and warmth. "
— Melinda, 5/14/2011 -
" Loved this book. I listened to it and I was transfixed by the detail of the time and place. It didn't matter that the storyline was difficult to conceive as really having had occured; it seemed to flow so naturally that it was believable. I learned lots about the Muslim faith and its followers. "
— Pam, 4/5/2011 -
" I really loved this book. After I finished this book I kept thinking about it and wanted to talk about it. Too bad I wasn't on goodreads then. I read it on a whim and boy was I ever glad I did. Highly recommend. "
— Sarah, 3/21/2011 -
" Beautiful writing and story, and I learned some history and culture along the way. "
— Natalie, 2/14/2011 -
" fantastic - thanks jennie for allowing me to borrow it! "
— Brianne, 2/1/2011 -
" What an amazing novel. Vivid descriptions and heartache. Now I very much want to travel to these amazing lands! "
— Lyne, 2/1/2011
About Camilla Gibb
Camilla Gibb was born in London and grew up in Toronto. She has a PhD in social anthropology from
Oxford, for which she conducted fieldwork in Ethiopia. Her novels, Mouthing the Words, winner of the City
of Toronto Book Award in 2000, and The
Petty Details of So-and-So’s Life have been published in eighteen countries
and translated into fourteen languages, receiving rave reviews all around the
world. She is one of twenty-one writers on the Orange Futures List—a list of
young writers to watch, compiled by the jury of the prestigious Orange Prize. She
serves as vice president of PEN Canada and is currently writer-in-residence at
the University of Toronto.
About Kate Reading
Kate Reading, named an AudioFile Golden Voice, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks across many genres, over a thirty–year plus career and won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. Among other awards, she has been recognized as an AudioFile Magazine Voice of the Century, Narrator of the Year, Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and winner of an Publisher’s Weekly’s Listen-Up Award. She records at her home studio, Madison Productions, Inc., in Maryland.