“Women were at the mercy of those who sired them, those who married them, and those they birthed.”
Bsrat Mezghebe’s debut, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For ( Liveright Publishing 2026), is a charming novel about three interconnected Eritrean women, now living in DC, in different stages in their lives.
Lydia is 13 and has no memories of Eritrea or her father, a freedom fighter who died during the decades long struggle for independence. Her world is turned upside down when she’s kicked out of her bedroom when her cousin, Berekhet, arrives from Ethiopia to follow his father’s footsteps and become a doctor. Her cousin’s father and her mother, Elsa, don’t much get a long but when he asked for her to make room for Berekhet, she did. Because that’s what family does.
Elsa is a former rebel fighter, one of the few women fighters now in the States. She, along with many other Eritreans, sells hot dogs to tourists. She works hard to give Lydia a good life, and she refuses to talk much about her past. When Lydia inquires about her father’s family, Elsa says little other than he was a brave man.
Mama Zewdi is the husbandless and childless matriarch of the Eritrean community in DC, and she cares deeply for Lydia and Elsa. After years of being stonewalled when asked about Lydia’s father, Mama Zewdi decides to take matters into her own hands.
With Eritrea on the cusp of independent, secrets refuse to stay quiet any longer.
This is very much a “time and place” novel, both in the May – August 1991 time frame and the DC Eritrean community. Despite a rather rushed (and predictable) and not as developed ending, I enjoyed it.
A Girl Named Tommi 