Set in Emperor Haile Selassie's Ethiopia and the racially charged world of Margaret Thatcher's London, Sweetness in the Belly is a richly detailed portrayal of one woman's search for love and belonging. Lilly, born to British parents, eventually finds herself living as a devout Muslim woman in the ancient walled city of Harar in the years leading up to the deposition of the emperor. She is drawn to an idealistic young doctor, Aziz, but their love has only just begun to fulfill its promise when the convulsions of a new order wrench them apart, sending Lilly to an England she has never seen and Aziz into the darkness of a revolution.