I picked this book up a few years ago, back when I was living in Ethiopia. Because finding English books by local authors is almost impossible, I snagged this up and a few others up quickly. Sadly, it took me a few years to get around to it.

But this book is so Ethiopian it hurts. I saw old friends and colleges in these pages, and it brought me back into culture and environment of the country.

This is your classic rags to riches story, but in true Ethipioan fashion it's all achieved through hard work and hard study. Brook's father's untimely passing and the sudden appearance of his second family forces Brook to find new streams of income and boy does he go far.

Of course, this story moves a bit fast and complications come out of nowhere, but I still enjoyed reading this.