First published in Canada by Doubleday Canada 2010. First published in the USA by the Penguin Press 2011. Published in Penguin Books 2012. New York, New York : Penguin Books 2012. Paperback, 311 pages.
Cover photograph: Martin Puddy/Corbis. Cover design: Darren Haggar.

The blurb:
This deeply observed novel of contemporary Vietnam interweaves the stories of a venerable soup seller, a young Vietnamese American, and an enterprising tour guide.
Raised in the United States but Vietnamese by birth, Maggie has com to Hanoi in search of her past. Her father, a dissident artist, became separated from Maggie and her mother during the war. She now seeks dues to his fate at an itinerant pho stall whose proprietor has lived through decades of political upheaval. Old Man Hu'ng's shop was once a hub for artists. But today, Tu', a hustling young entrepreneur who leads “war tours” through the city, is one of his most faithful customers. Maggie, Hu'ng, and Tu' come together in a highly charged season that will mark them forever.
”There is a lot packed into this carefully balanced, delicately spiced novel. . . . It achieves one of fiction's greatest aims: making the personal universal and vice versa.”
— THE INDEPENDENT
”The true beauty of the novel radiates from the details—the smell of the soup, the feeling of the early morning streets, the sense of community in poverty and the community woven by memories.”
— LOS ANGELES TIMES

About the author:
CAMILLA GIBB was born in London, England, and has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Oxford University. Sweetness in the Belly was an international bestseller and garnered critical acclaim around th world. Her novels, including Mouthing the Words and The Petty Details of So-and-So's Life, have been translated into fourteen languages. Camilla Gibb lives in Toronto.

Camilla Gibb at Wikipedia
Camilla Gibb Homepage
Author interview: Camilla Gibb on Vietnam and The Beauty of Humanity Movement at Book Club in a Box

Offered this book inthis month's One book a month thread. In the draw, it was won by Icila. Congrats! And happy reading!

Thank you Tarna, the book is now with me.