Tekerchem

ቅምሻ

By author Yismake Worku.

A hidden treasure. A forgotten history. A secret that never sleeps. Along Bahir Dar, on the shores of Lake Tana and of the Abbay (the Blue Nile), there opens a mysterious, historical world. But what is searched for, and what is chased after, is not gold alone. It is identity.

In ‘Tekerchem’ the novel is bound up with the history and identity of a people. As the marks handed down through history disappear, the knowledge tied to them fades with them — and this the book lifts up. It makes the story more than a hunt for treasure. The question is not only ‘What is hidden?’ but ‘What are we losing?’ That, above all, is what the book raises — and yet there is still something else. A burning love.

‘Tekerchem’ does not only show the Abbay and Lake Tana. It shows the search for a love that will not be forgotten. The shores of the Abbay and of Tana carry the feeling of love, of parting, and of longing.

The scene of Mekerem seated on the shore of Lake Tana, singing and thinking of the Abbay and Tana, clearly reveals the emotional side of the story. Her longing to find Alula is bound to the Abbay and to Tana.

In this story the river does not flow alone; the story itself flows as well. Author Yismake Worku, in ‘Tekerchem’, has told marvelously a story in which a hidden heritage and a love that departs are woven together — a secret carried to the Abbay and Tana. You will hurry to read the book.