Overview
NPR Best Books of 2022The Christian Science Monitor 10 Best Books of JuneMost Anticipated Books of 2022: The Millions, Electric Literature, Brittle Paper, Open Country Magazine, Ms. Magazine
Winner of the 2020 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, Ethiopian American author Meron Haderoās gorgeously wrought stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times offer poignant, compelling narratives of those whose lives have been marked by border crossings and the risk of displacement.
Set across the U.S. and abroad, Meron Haderoās stories feature immigrants, refugees, and those on the brink of dispossession, all struggling to begin again, all fighting to belong. Moving through diverse geographies and styles, this captivating collection follows characters on the journey toward home, which they dream of, create and redefine, lose and find and make their own. Beyond migration, these stories examine themes of race, gender, class, friendship and betrayal, the despair of loss and the enduring resilience of hope.
Winner of the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, āThe Street Sweepā is about an enterprising young man on the verge of losing his home in Addis Ababa who pursues an improbable opportunity to turn his life around. Appearing in Best American Short Stories, āThe Suitcaseā follows a woman visiting her country of origin for the first time and finds that an ordinary object opens up an unexpected, complex bridge between worlds. Shortlisted for the 2019 Caine Prize, āThe Wallā portrays the intergenerational friendship between two refugees living in Iowa who have connections to Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A Best American Short Stories notable, āMekonnen aka Mack aka Huey Freakinā Newtonā is a coming-of-age tale about an Ethiopian immigrant in Brooklyn encountering nuances of race in his new country.
Kaleidoscopic, powerful, and illuminative, the stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times expand our understanding of the essential and universal need for connection and the vital refuge of homeāand announce a major new talent in Meron Hadero.
"Exquisite ā¦.Sentences infused with attitude throw gut punches that land with enough power to bring on tears."
āDaphne Kalotay, The Washington Post
āWitty and wistful, complex and heartbreaking, these stories capture lives caught between cultures and continents, past and present, truth and lies. As its displaced characters seek belonging, this collection explores the challenges of connection with empathy and nuance. A thrilling debut.ā
āBrit Bennett, bestselling author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers
āDebut books donāt get much stronger than this. Meron Haderoās remarkable stories explore a diverse cast of people doing their best to find acceptance or at least stabilityā¦Hadero is deeply perceptive; her dialogue always rings true, and the regard she has for her characters is apparent. This isnāt just an excellent first book, itās an excellent book, period.ā
āMichael Schaub, NPR Best Books 2022: Books We Love
āThis book heralds the arrival of a gifted, stunning writer. A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times held me spellboundā¦These stories unfold with an intensifying power, each of them a testament to whatās possible when we move through this world insisting on the potential of hope, and love.ā
āMaaza Mengiste, author of Booker Prize finalist The Shadow King
āThis richly detailed, subtly impressionistic short-story collectionāby the first Ethiopian-born writer to win the AKO Caine Prize for African Writingāpulls at threads of geography, language, generation, race, and genderā¦Haderoās page shinesā¦expanding instead of narrowing the range and representation of immigrant experiences.ā
āDaniel King, Mother Jones
"Meron Hadero's collection, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times brims with lives on the marginsā¦This style, which time and time again comes off the page as truly effortless, is what makes Hadero a new master of the form, and this collection a masterful one."
āChigozie Obioma, author of Booker Prize finalists An Orchestra of Minorities and The Fishermen
āIntricate and precise, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times casts a glimmering light into the most elusive corners of estrangement which all migrantsātorn between past and present, home and journeyācome to knowā¦A powerful, unforgettable collection.ā
āIngrid Rojas Contreras, bestselling author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree
āIn her debut story collection, Addis Ababaāborn Hadero addresses Ethiopian Americans' struggles for acceptance, the painful ties between present and past, and the elusive meaning of homeā¦. A full range of stylistic approaches is on display in these storiesā¦. Entertaining and affecting stories with a deft lightness of touch.ā
āKirkus Reviews, Starred Review
āIn this impressive debut collection, award-winning Ethiopian American writer Hadero showcases the lives of displaced people trying to create a space for themselves to call home in America and Ethiopiaā¦Haderoās powerful stories usher characters along their searches for belonging, often with nothing but hope and a sense of community pushing them forward.ā
āEmily Park, Booklist, Starred Review
āMeron Haderoās dazzling short stories span the diaspora, poignantly portraying characters in search of opportunity and belonging. Rich with insight, compassion, and wit, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is an unforgettable debut.ā
āVanessa Hua, bestselling author of A River of Stars and Forbidden City
āWith enormous power and wonderful subtlety, Meron Hadero grants us access to the inner worlds of people at moments when everything is at risk. In the stories that make up A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, the emotional stakes are highā¦.these sharp, humane, beautiful portraits are a gift.ā
āDinaw Mengestu, Achy Obejas, and Ilan Stavans, from the judgesā citation
āAlthough sheās concerned with specific geographies, Hadero creates a remarkable universal resonance, exquisitely illuminating quotidian moments that could, and do, happen anywhere in the world where people long to belong.... [A] stupendous collectionā¦. From narrative to narrative, Hadero is a wondrously agile writer.ā
āTerry Hong, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Best Books of June
āHaderoās characters face challenges including racism, crushing misunderstandings, and visits home that remind them of how much they no longer belong, if they ever didā¦. Their experiences may be unique, but their desires to live in peace and happiness are universal. A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is a heartfelt collection about the highs, lows, and ordinary of Ethiopian life.ā
āEileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
āMeron Haderoās A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is an astonishing debutā¦.If the danger faced by those who live on the anxious edge of societies, whether in Ethiopia or Germany or the United States, is not alwaysāor even oftenārecognized, Hadero suggests, the signs are present long before theyāre understood. In A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, she has crafted a profound collection that identifies this sensibility while also, in its overflow of stories, signaling the hope of a teller that a good listener will be ready to receive them.ā
āAnita Felicelli, Alta Journal
āIt is the dignity that makes this collection a stunner.ā
āLauren Francis-Sharma, San Francisco Chronicle
āThe dispossessed peoples of the world are explored in Ethiopian-born Haderoās dazzling new story collectionā¦Each story has a lyrical power. As the author says: 'To be receptive to what the story needs, I try to step back and almost hear what the story sounds like from a readerās point of view.ā She is definitely a writer to watch.ā
āMelanie Fleishman, The Center for Fiction
This book title, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times (Stories), ISBN: 9781632061188, by Meron Hadero, published by Restless Books (June 28, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
Unlike Amazon and other retailers who may also offer A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times (Stories) books on their website, we specialize in large quantities and provide personal service, from trusted, experienced, friendly people in Portland, Oregon. We offer a Price Match Guarantee, and QuickQuote form, to make purchasing quick and easy.
Prefer to work with a human being when you order A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times (Stories) books in bulk? Our Book Specialists are standing by Monday-Friday 8-5 PST, ready to help!