The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears

Ethiopian émigré author Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly for this colorful debut. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It’s the ’70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos—a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized.