Book
Sweet and Sour Milk (1979) by Nuruddin Farah: a novel of Mogadishu under dictatorship
Sweet and Sour Milk is a 1979 novel by the Somali writer Nuruddin Farah, published in London by Allison & Busby. Set in and around Mogadishu in 1975, it follows Loyaan as he searches for the reasons behind the death of his twin brother Soyaan. It is the first novel of Farah's trilogy Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and won the English-Speaking Union Literary Award in 1980.
Sweet and Sour Milk
- Author
- Nuruddin Farah
- Year
- 1979
- Publisher
- Allison & Busby
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9781555971595
- Sources
- 8 sources
The book
Sweet and Sour Milk is a novel by Nuruddin Farah, who was born in Baidoa in 1945 and won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1998 (Wikipedia). It was first published in London by Allison & Busby in November 1979, and was later reissued in the United States by Graywolf Press (Fantastic Fiction; Publishers Weekly). It was his third novel, after From a Crooked Rib (1970) and A Naked Needle (1976).
The story
The novel is set in and around Mogadishu in 1975, during the military government of Siad Barre. Soyaan, a government employee, falls ill and dies in the first chapter. His twin brother Loyaan, a dentist, realises how little he knew of his brother's life and sets out to find why he died. The family refuses a post-mortem, and Loyaan learns that Soyaan had secretly written against the government. After his death the government publicly praises Soyaan, names a street after him and says his last words were "Labour is Honour", while Loyaan learns that his brother's final words were his own name, repeated three times. Their father, Keynaan, who had lost his post in the security services, appears to use his son's death to win it back (The Modern Novel; Publishers Weekly). The history of the period is on The Siad Barre era, 1969 to 1991.
The trilogy
Sweet and Sour Milk is the first novel of Farah's trilogy Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship. The other two are Sardines (1981) and Close Sesame (1983). The three novels are linked by setting and by the political group to which Soyaan belonged (Wikipedia). Farah wrote all three in exile. He had been warned not to return to Somalia after A Naked Needle was published in 1976, and he did not go back until 1996 (Encyclopedia.com).
How it was received
- The novel won the English-Speaking Union Literary Award in 1980 (Wikipedia; AbeBooks).
- Publishers Weekly, reviewing the Graywolf edition, called it "the elegantly crafted tale of a man's investigation of his revolutionary twin's mysterious death" (Publishers Weekly).
Where to read it
- Editions: Open Library
- In a library: WorldCat
Related pages
Sources
- Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Fantastic Fiction · fantasticfiction.com
- Publishers Weekly · publishersweekly.com
- The Modern Novel · themodernnovel.org
- Encyclopedia.com · encyclopedia.com
- AbeBooks · www-origin.abebooks.com
- Open Library · openlibrary.org
- WorldCat · search.worldcat.org
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Where this matters
Same era
- Australia18,401 people of Somali ancestry and 8,101 born in Somalia lived in Australia at the 2021 Census, more than half in Victoria. History, work, issues.
- Birmingham (Somali diaspora)About 17,000 to 21,600 Somalis live in Birmingham (Census 2021), mostly in Nechells, Newtown, Small Heath and Alum Rock. History, work, health and ties home.
- Denmark (Somali diaspora)21,885 people of Somali origin lived in Denmark in 2026, half born there. Numbers, history, work, permit reviews, and ties home.
- DjiboutiAbout 13,900 refugees from Somalia live in Djibouti (Aug 2026): numbers since 1990, Ali Addeh, Holl-Holl, the 2017 refugee law, Arta 2000 and 2025 returns.
- Ethiopia (Somali refugees and the Somali Region)About 368,000 refugees from Somalia live in Ethiopia (Oct 2026): numbers since 1988, Dollo Ado, Jijiga, Addis Ababa's Bole Michael, the law and aid cuts.
- Finland (Somali diaspora)28,167 Somali speakers lived in Finland at the end of 2025, more than half in Helsinki. Numbers, history, work, leaders and ties home.
More by this author
- From a Crooked Rib (1970): Nuruddin Farah's first novelNuruddin Farah's From a Crooked Rib (1970): the story of Ebla, how it was written, the 1972 ban, how critics read it and its Somali translation Feedh Qalloocan.
- Maps (1986) by Nuruddin Farah: a novel of the Ogaden warNuruddin Farah's Maps (1986): Askar, Misra and the Ogaden war, its unusual narrative voice, the Blood in the Sun trilogy and how critics have read it.
- Links (2003) by Nuruddin Farah: a return to Mogadishu in the years of conflictNuruddin Farah's Links (2003): its story of a return to Mogadishu in the 1990s, the Dante quotations that frame it, its trilogy, and how reviewers received it.
- Secrets (1998) by Nuruddin Farah: a family mystery on the eve of the civil warNuruddin Farah's Secrets (1998): its story of Kalaman, Sholoongo and his family on the eve of the war, its narrators, its trilogy and how reviewers read it.
- Gifts (1992) by Nuruddin Farah: a Mogadishu nurse, a foundling and the politics of aidNuruddin Farah's Gifts (1992): its story of Duniya and Bosaaso, the theme of foreign aid, its place in the Blood in the Sun trilogy, its awards and reviews.
- Yesterday, Tomorrow (2000) by Nuruddin Farah: voices from the Somali diasporaNuruddin Farah's Yesterday, Tomorrow (2000): his interviews with Somali refugees in Africa and Europe, the questions it asks about exile and identity, and how it was read.
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