Though rich in ancient legend, this first novel by the Ethiopia-born author of the memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly
slips too often into conventional historical storytelling and formulaic romance. Set in what is today Ethiopia, toward the end of the 18th century, the novel charts a feudal uprising set in motion by Count Ashenafi's only daughter, Aster, when she consorts with Gudu, a slave who belongs to the count. At a very young age Aster proves that she has a gift of divination, for which she gains fame far and wide. But after she is raped by the emperor, her gift deserts her, and her only consolation is teaching the court entertainer and poet slave Gudu to write down his wealth of oral stories. Gudu is slowly awakening to the insurgent ideas of followers of a new god, Amma, who swear to undermine the historically unequal relationship between landowners and their bondsmen. Count Ashenafi's expedition to the hotbed of insurgency turns into a match of wills, while a shadowy, hunchbacked monk named Reverend Yiman arouses the peasants to embark on a kind of jihad. Mezlekia's tale begins to sound like a hackneyed modern-day allegory of colonial war, and the love story between Aster and Gudu, which can't end well, a convenient way to get readers to take sides. The author has the gift of spinning stories out of stories, however, and adventurous readers will be drawn onward by an inviting fragrance of romance and mystery. Agent, Jacqueline Kaiser of Westwood Creative Artists. 5-city author tour.(Jan.)
