Join us for an evening with Bsrat Mezghebe, who will read from her new novel, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For. A conversation with Tochi Eze will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: A radiant, highly anticipated debut from the Well-Read Black Girl Books series, delving into the secret lives of three women on the eve of Eritrean independence.
The year is 1991. Eritrea is on the verge of liberation from Ethiopian rule and in Washington, DC,’s tight-knit Eritrean community, change is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Lydia and her family are grappling with what peace after decades of war might mean for their future, just as they welcome Berekhet—a distant cousin newly arrived from Ethiopia to attend medical school in the States. With him comes a barrage of new ideas Lydia must confront for the first time, about the stories of nationhood and family she was raised on.
Meanwhile her mother, Elsa, a former rebel fighter, and Mama Zewdi, the family matriarch, must grapple with regrets long buried in the time their country has been at war. Elsa’s path from Eritrea to DC was paved with courage and loss, and figures from her past on the front lines of battle begin to resurface. Mama Zewdi, who runs a successful injera business out of her apartment, finds herself reexamining her place in their little family for the first time, while Lydia, emboldened by Berekhet, becomes committed to uncovering the secrets of her and her mother’s past—including the truth about her father, who was martyred in the war.
A loving ode to an immigrant community on the cusp of a new age, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For boldly asks: How does our past define our present? And what stories must we let go of to be truly free?
About the Author: Bsrat Mezghebe received an MFA in creative writing from New York University. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Paris Review, and the anthology Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves. She lives in the Washington, DC, area.
About the Moderator: Tochi Eze is a writer and lawyer from Nigeria. She holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University and is completing a PhD in English literature at the University of Virginia. This Kind of Trouble is her first novel.
I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For will be released on February 10. To order the book, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
"With humor, compassion, and unflinching insight, Bsrat Mezghebe explores the ripple effect of Eritrea’s approaching liberation within a family, as well as the power of the stories we inherit as we come of age, and the tenacity and sacrifice it takes to write a new one for ourselves. A debut that glows with truth and heart."
—Coco Mellors
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