./configure can't find libnettle 2.4

[mzx]

hello there,

simply

configure: error:
  ***
  *** Libnettle 2.4 was not found.

I compiled nettle v2.4 with --prefix=$HOME and installed. But ./configure could not find it even with  --with-libnettle-prefix=$HOME or  --with-libnettle-prefix=$HOME/lib
I found this question asked by someone 2 weeks ago and still not solution presented.
Hope somebody will help me.

ps. about libnettle in my box:
libnettle.so and libnettle.a are stored in $HOME/lib, *.h in $HOME/include/nettle

Regards,
mzx