The History of a Difficult Child

An exhilarating and tragicomic debut novel about the indomitable child of a scorned, formerly land-owning family in the wake of Ethiopia's socialist revolution.'Extraordinary' Maaza Mengiste'Exhilarating' Elif BatumanSelam is the youngest child in a large turbulent family. Even before she is born, her omniscience animates life in a Small Town in 1980s southwestern Ethiopia. Selam and her father listen to the radio in secret as the socialist military junta that recently overthrew the government seizes properties and wages civil war in the North. The Asmelashes, once an enterprising, land-owning family, are ostracized under the new regime.