Hello,
Our book club discussion of The Lincoln Conspiracy, Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch's engaging account of an early, failed plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, is off to a roaring start — if you've read the book, please join us!
In Editor's Choice, we bring you Mihret Sibhat's The History of a Difficult Child, a novel featuring a charming and funny girl who grows up in the tense atmosphere following Ethiopia's socialist revolution.
Plus, explore more than 400 other books in our Parenting and Families category, check out the latest Wordplay, and take a look at all the other discussions we have lined up for this fall!
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With best wishes,
Davina Morgan-Witts
BookBrowse Publisher
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The Lincoln Conspiracy
by Brad Meltzer, John Mensch
From the Jacket
The bestselling authors of The First Conspiracy, which covers the secret plot against George Washington, now turn their attention to a little-known, but true story about a failed assassination attempt on President Lincoln.
From the Discussion
"I have read many books about Lincoln, including Team of Rivals. The Lincoln Conspiracy revealed more about Lincoln before he became president, which added to what I had already learned. This is a great book. I definitely will recommend it to others." —dorisk
"I wasn't sure about how much I would like this book at first, but I ended up completely engaged. I loved the connections to Illinois, and specifically Chicago." —ssh
"I've read The First Conspiracy and The Nazi Conspiracy, and really enjoyed them, but this one was my favorite." —kimk
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The History of a Difficult Child
by Mihret Sibhat
Mihret Sibhat's debut novel, The History of a Difficult Child, takes place in a small, unnamed town in southwestern Ethiopia, in which everybody lives in a state of constant unease or fear. It's ten years after Ethiopia's socialist revolution, and any act, benign or not—leaving a flag tangled up, or listening to the radio for news about Ethiopia's famine and war against guerilla groups—might be deemed counterrevolutionary and reportable by one's peers to local government, leading to arrest or worse.
It is in this environment that Selam Asmelash, the novel's titular protagonist, is born and grows up—but her charming, spritely narrative voice prevents the atmosphere from being overly serious. Selam is just a baby when she starts narrating her family's life, albeit a particularly observant and braggadocious one. She has some grasp of the political climate from listening to the radio, and she's a fly on the wall to adult conversations and family secrets, but she doesn't understand the gravity of what she hears, and she's easily distracted—she's a child, after all. ...continued
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Beyond the Book:
Guerrilla Groups in the Ethiopian Civil War
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In The History of a Difficult Child, the Asmelash family turns to the radio for news about Ethiopia's revolutionary government, the Derg, which formed in 1974: they listen to reports about the famine in northern Ethiopia, charges by Human Rights International of human rights abuses by Chairman Mengistu, and, as the years pass, updates about progress that guerrilla groups make against the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE; the new name for the Derg beginning in 1987).
Mengistu's PDRE was felled by a combination of separatist guerilla groups, all waging warfare against the government with the goal of independence. One of the most crucial was the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). ...continued
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The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat (above) is only one of many works in our Parenting and Families category, where you can find more than 400 featured and recommended titles (fiction and nonfiction) with thematic elements such as relationships between parents and children or the complexities of family ties.
This is just one of 100+ themed categories you can explore on BookBrowse to find the perfect read for your book club or yourself. Members have full access to all categories, while non-members can view a limited number. |
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Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse.
"E Dog H I D"
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The answer to the last Wordplay: A F Out O W
"A Fish Out of Water"
Meaning: Someone who is uncomfortable in an unfamiliar situation
This expression dates back to at least the 14th century, given that it can be found in the general prologue to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400.
The rule of Maurus or Saint Benedict,
By reason it was somewhat old and strict,
This same monk let such old things slowly pace
And followed new-world manners in their place.
He gave for that text not a plucked hen
Which holds that hunters are not holy men;
Nor that a monk, when he is cloisterless,
Is like unto a fish that's waterless;
That is to say, a monk out of his cloister.
But this same text he held not worth an oyster;...
(translation courtesy of librarius.com) ...continued
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