The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
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Average rating4
15
Ratings2
Average rating4
Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution after witnessing soldiers beat his father to the point of certain death, selling off his parents' jewelry to pay for passage to the United States. Now he finds himself running a grocery store in a poor African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C. His only companions are two fellow African immigrants who share his feelings of frustration with and bitter nostalgia for their home continent. He realizes that his life has turned out completely different and far more isolated from the one he had imagined for himself years ago.Soon Sepha's neighborhood begins to change. Hope comes in the form of new neighbors-Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter-who become his friends and remind him of what having a family is like for the first time in years. But when the neighborhood's newfound calm is disturbed by a series of racial incidents, Sepha may lose everything all over again.Told in a haunting and powerful first-person narration that casts the streets of Washington, D.C., and Addis Ababa through Sepha's eyes, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is a deeply affecting and unforgettable debut novel about what it means to lose a family and a country-and what it takes to create a new home.
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Sepha Stephanos left Ethiopia after his father's death at the hands of Ethiopian revolutionaries for a new life in America. Sepha opens a store and manages to pass days and then years selling small grocery items to the poor residents of the neighborhood. But his life feels meaningless and inconsequential; he never bonds with his neighbors or his new country. The only connections he makes for many years are with two fellow African immigrants. His happiest hours are spent talking with them about the disappointments their new country has given them. Finally Sepha befriends a little girl and her mother, new residents of the neighborhood. Perhaps Sepha will use the inspiration these two bring to reenergize his hopes and dreams.
