Publishers Weekly
★ 07/03/2023
Sibhat debuts with a remarkable family saga set in Ethiopia’s communist period. In the mid-1980s, 42-year-old Degitu Galata learns—after four months of unexplained vaginal bleeding—that she’s pregnant with her third child and first in 11 years. Meanwhile, her wastrel husband, Asmelash Gebre Egziabher, perpetually runs afoul of their region’s new socialist leaders. Shortly after Degitu gives birth to a daughter named Selam, the family’s boarder introduces them to Pentecostal Christianity. Then Degitu’s bleeding returns and she dies, though the family tells Selam, now a toddler, that she’s moved to Addis Ababa. Asmelash throws himself into the new religion despite harassment from neighbors, while Selam is mistreated by her older brothers (the oldest, Ezra, who is secretly gay and carrying on a relationship with the boarder, takes Selam’s share of their late grandmother’s money to open a shop in Addis Ababa, and Melkamu beats Selam while forcing exorcisms on her in the church). As rebels make progress toppling the government, Selam uncovers the secret of her mother’s death and the family experiences another tragedy. Sibhat wonderfully distills the political and historical context into a personal story, and centers Selam’s emotional turmoil with inventive narration (“I’m a leopard in disguise, with a list of all the people I’m going to eat in this town”). This is a standout. Agent: Ayesha Pande, Ayesha Pande Literary Agency. (June)
From the Publisher
Praise for The History of a Difficult Child
“An endearing coming-of-age story set in post-revolutionary Ethiopia . . . Sharp and witty. . . . Like other child narrators — see Giovanna in Elena Ferrante’s “The Lying Life of Adults”; Esch in Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones” — Selam is curious and obsessive about the truth. . . . Selam’s pressing queries guide Sibhat’s debut, a wily and operatic novel about a former aristocratic family’s adjustment to post-revolutionary Ethiopia. . . . The History of a Difficult Child spans decades, swinging between the past (before Selam) and the present with a casual and impressive ease. . . . [Sibhat] has built a portrait of Ethiopia’s history while giving us a compelling family drama anchored by a distinctive heroine. . . . Sibhat’s ability to find humor in even the darkest situations keeps The History of a Difficult Child nimble and propulsive.”
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Washington Post
“Sibhat . . . has created a memorable character in Selam, who entertains us — and her family of siblings and extended relatives — with her smarts, humor and wily charm. . . . Sometimes heady, often rowdy . . . [the novel] delivers its message with humor and brio.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A remarkable family saga. . . . Sibhat wonderfully distills the political and historical context into a personal story, and centers Selam’s emotional turmoil with inventive narration. This is a standout.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Sibhat’s vivid narrative is captivating, particularly for its emotional depth, even as some of the events she depicts are shocking. She has achieved any fiction writer’s first goal—transporting the reader into another world—and has set the bar high for what promises to be a brilliant career.”
—Thane Tierney, BookPage (starred review)
“Sibhat tells Selam’s tale with verve, offering a vibrant panorama of Ethiopian society in all its complexity with an unforgettable protagonist at the center.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Mihret Sibhat’s beautifully rendered first novel, The History of A Difficult Child, is as rich and complicated as they come—a novel that delves fearlessly, with so much grace and compassion, into the most essential corners of our lives, the ones where family, politics, culture, and love are inextricably intertwined.”
—Dinaw Mengestu, MacArthur “Genius Grant”-winning author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
“An exhilarating novel by a powerful new writer.”
—Elif Batuman, author of Pulitzer-Prize finalist The Idiot and Either/Or
“The History of a Difficult Child is an extraordinary novel. It is at once a story of a sharp-witted young girl trying to hold herself together during political upheaval, and an achingly tender tale of community, family, grief and forgiveness. Its most striking achievement, however, rests in young Selam’s insistence that rebelliousness and nonconformity might, after all, be the greatest expressions of love.”
—Maaza Mengiste, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Shadow King
“Mihret Sibhat’s The History of a Difficult Child signals the emergence of a major new writing talent. Not only does the novel confront history, masculinity, and gender in refreshing but uncompromising ways, it also has a remarkably original voice, fresh and irreverent. This, combined with the unexpected reimagining of the novel form, her elegant and accessible language, and her deft hand at tragicomedy, ensures Sibhat will soon be one of the most influential voices in the literature of Africa. I am sure this is only the first of many important books that will come from this gifted writer.”
—Chris Abani, author of GraceLand and The Secret History of Las Vegas
“Selam, Mihret Sibhat’s ferociously witty young narrator, depicts her family’s religious and political struggles in Ethiopia in extraordinarily rich and original prose. The History of a Difficult Child is deeply moving as well as hilarious. This is a one-of-a-kind must-read debut.”
—Julie Schumacher, Thurber Prize-winning author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement
“Mihret Sibhat wields the child narrator voice with rare finesse and brave conviction. The ‘history’ here is not only about the growth of a beguiling bad girl with visionary intelligence, but also about the force of history itself. A brilliant powerhouse of a novel, an incandescent read from an electrifying writer.”
—Patricia Hampl, author of The Art of the Wasted Day
“An unexpected and hilarious voice with a velocity all its own. You won’t soon forget brutally frank Selam, or Mihret Sibhat’s razor-sharp wit. The History of a Difficulty Child is tender and merciless, full of human and political insight. I couldn’t stop turning the pages.”
—V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night
“A moving evocation of life in a time of terror, as seen through innocent eyes.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A family story, a community story, a political critique, and a very funny rollicking novel. . . . Mihret Sibhat’s command of language, her sense of humor, and her love for Ethiopia combine to stir the memories of any who have encountered this culture and people. . . . A magnificent guide to this ancient and enduring culture.”
—Richard Crepeau, New York Journal of Books
"[A] debut novel about a precocious little girl and her family trying to survive against the backdrop of political upheaval in Ethiopia. Themes of religion, loss, community and independence run through this unexpected and singular work."
—Karla Strand, Ms. magazine
“I recommend The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat. Told through the perspective of a precocious, cuttingly sharp child, it follows a formerly landowning family in Ethiopia as they’re increasingly shunned during the socialist revolution. Selam catches far more about the conflict than the adults around her realize, and she becomes fascinated by the strained threads between family, country, and religion.”
—Susie Dumond, BookRiot
"Sibhat’s debut novel is observed through the eyes of a young girl. When Selam Asmelash’s formerly privileged family is shunned after Ethiopia’s socialist revolution, her mother turns to extreme religion to cope. Selam, coming of age, is torn between extremes of wealth, power, politics, and religion. The novel offers a heartfelt look at the development of this 'difficult child.'"
—Alta
"There are a slew of great reads from debut writers coming up, and The History of a Difficult Child is among the best of them. Decorated first-time author Mihret Sibhat was raised in a small town in Ethiopia before her family moved to California, and her powerful novel is told through the eyes of a girl raised in just such a town as her family endures the country’s civil war."
—Nick Hilden, The Manual
“Set in a small town in Ethiopia, this story is told from the perspective of Selam Asmelash, the youngest in her family and a very big personality. As political turmoil coupled with personal losses unfold around her, Selam takes it all in her stride, navigating the turbulence with a unique wit and charm. A novel set against the backdrop of the politics of its time.”
—Samira Sawlani, African Arguments
Kirkus Reviews
2023-04-12
In Ethiopian writer Sibhat’s debut novel, a young girl chronicles civil war and ethnic division in the 1980s.
Selam Asmelash comes into the world with what, says a sister, is “a very large, abnormally sized head.” Her father asks what’s the matter with that, and the sibling, as if a sibyl, replies, “You’ll see.” Selam’s appearance will later prove a cause for schoolyard bullying, but for the moment, thoughtful beyond her years, she decides on a couple of things: She’s not going to walk until she’s good and ready, and she’s not going to be fooled by political rhetoric, as when, still a toddler, she proclaims of the new constitutional freedoms “Comrade Chairman” promises over the radio, “Liar.” Selam is not the only one resisting the alternate realities the regime promotes: Her grandmother, for example, holds up a black bar of soap sold in a government shop and demands of the dictator in faraway Addis Ababa, “He needs to tell us whether this is really soap or his shit in a package!” Selam, the conscience of the tale, finds her bête noire in, appropriately enough, a government functionary whom she calls Rectangle-Head, but there are other foes: the villagers who throw rocks at their house because her family is Protestant; the rebel army that arrives during an uprising against the regime, so quick to commit atrocities that, says Selam, “I am terrified of them even more than I used to be of comrade Rectangle-Head, whom I don’t even think about anymore.” Long since fully ambulatory, Selam, in Sibhat’s touching conclusion, puts aside these murderous squabbles of adults as the childish things they are and decides instead that she’s going to be a star soccer striker, scoring goals for all the dead of her family and village and even one for God, “the madman who created so much chaos while desperate to escape aloneness.”
A moving evocation of life in a time of terror, as seen through innocent eyes.
