Here's what I wrote in 2009 about this read: "Interesting, educational, and full of heart. First book read about Ethiopia, and specifically the city of Harar ("4th holiest city in Islam"). Also learned more about Islam, including as learned by a Muslim white woman, orphan of English parents. Very nice!" ( )

Beautifully crafted. ( )

A very well written novel about a young white woman who grows up in Morocco and Ethiopia and becomes firmly entrenched in the Islam way of life. When she eventually returns to England due to the revolution in Ethiopia she never really feels at home in any place. It is a sad story of displaced people and refugees and a disturbing look at some of the cultural practices in Ethiopia. I enjoyed the book and the characters. ( )

Love the premise but the delivery just fell flat for me. A tad too erudite. I kept feeling that I was in the classroom, receiving a lesson on human diaspora, and that just kept pulling me away from the more intimate, personal story on offer. Don't get me wrong, Gibb obviously is highly educated and has done her research, but sometimes I just want to experience a story. Yes, through Lilly, a reader becomes exposed to an interesting cross-cultural perspective as Lilly finds herself being defined as a farenji (foreigner) in Harar because of her white skin, while back in London she does not identify with the English Caucasian community. From that perspective, Lilly is very much a woman who, culturally, identifies more with a nation that clearly views her a not one of their own kind. I should also mention that the story does contain some disturbing descriptions, like the genital mutilation of young girls, that were rather difficult to read.

Overall, I found that the continual messaging of messages of ethnicity and identity seemed to stifle the story, to the point where I was unable to make any kind of reader connection with any of the characters. Favorite quote (and a good humanity lesson of the story for all):

"For all the brutality that is inflicted upon us, we still possess the desire to be polite to strangers. We may have blackened eyes, but we still insist on brushing our hair. We may have had our toes shot off by a nine-year-old, but we still believe in the innocence of children. We may have been raped, repeatedly, by two men in a Kenyan refugee camp, but we still open ourselves to the ones we love. We may have lost everything, but we still insist on being generous and sharing the little that remains. We still have dreams."

( )

Lilly's parents are English and Irish, and they travel the world with her, living a hippie life. As a result of their choices, she grows up in Morocco and Ethiopia in the 1970s. She also has the rare distinction of being a white Muslim in those African countries. Then Ethiopia becomes an unstable country, and Lilly is forced to return to England. The novel moves us back and forth through time periods and locations, getting to know Lilly, the people around her, and her life.

This is one of my favorite reads of the year so far. A solid five stars for writing, story, and for Lilly herself. Not too far along in the story, I was doing the math to see how old she was compared to me. I was thinking about my childhood friends who grew up in Ethiopia because their parents were missionaries. And most of all, I was trying to find more time to read this book.

Lilly is resilient but entirely human. She believes in herself, despite constantly being questioned by the Africans around her. I'm in awe of the inner strength this character had to make her way in a tangled, insecure world.

Lilly's story also taught me about the life of refugees. How you feel when you look for someone you love day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out. You never know if they are ignoring you, or unable to find you too. She finds a family of choice and a community in London, but in her heart she's still African and Ethiopian, and follows those traditions as much as possible.

The author presents a picture of Islam that includes the many gods of Ethiopian traditions. It's not an orthodox Islamic perspective, based on what the characters say as well as the author's afterword. It's a fictional account, although it stirs up controversy among reviewers as to whether it should be closer to their version of accuracy. To me, the importance of including the depth of Lilly's devotion to the Islam she was taught is what it tells us about her character.

As much as it's titled "sweetness," this is a bittersweet and moving book. ( )