![]() ![]() By the time Sepha reaches America, the only thing he has left of his family is a pair of his father’s cheap cuff links. The next morning, Sepha’s mother hands him all their valuables and sends him to the border. The soldiers kill Sepha’s father, forcing Sepha to flee his homeland. Sepha is 16 years old when soldiers in Ethiopia find his student activist flyers, which his father claims as his own. As the three days pass, Sepha reflects on the intervening years, particularly the previous winter and his relationship with a new neighbor, to understand his present and future. ![]() The story is set in Washington, DC, 17 years after Sepha fled the revolution in Ethiopia. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears takes place between May 2 and May 4, when the narrator and protagonist, Sepha Stephanos, learns that he is being evicted from his store. He is the author of three novels, a contributor to publications such as Rolling Stone and Harper’s, and director of the Written Arts Program at Bard College. Mengestu is an Ethiopian American who, like his protagonist, was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the political conflict known as the Red Terror. ![]()
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