His Only Wife

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For me, that prize goes to Afi’s internal tension between her familial duty and her personal wellbeing. Part of me wishes that the Liberian woman had also been given a pov, making the novel feel less biased. Afi Tekple challenges the social norms as she decides to fight for a life she imagined, a life where she would be his only wife, loved and respected. I mention place because Peace Adzo Medie accomplishes a wonderful pull-and-push between the two main geographic settings in the story: the big city (Accra) and the country town (Ho) where many of the central characters are from.

But even more, it is about a woman determining her own rights and discovering her own worth and value in a world run by men. giving readers a chance to get to know them, descriptions of the people she meets in Accra tend to be more superficial.It didn't really make sense to me as she was built up as knowing the situation beforehand and so, I’m not quite sure what her endgame or expectations were but as a reader, it didn’t feel realistic to me. If you are looking to escape to another country, take a trip to Ghana with His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie. Throughout the novel there are mouthwatering descriptions of yam stews, bustling markets and beautiful homes and apartments in Accra, but best of all it's all underpinned by a warm coming-of-age-tale mixed in with a subtle takedown of the patriarchy. Her mother and herself have existed on the edges of poverty, clinging to the good graces of their extended family and of Aunty, the rich benefactor of the community.

I have mixed feelings about this contemporary African story about love, marriage, culture and what it means to be the perfect daughter, wife and to “keep your home. Bottom line: I could say something about the clear and straightforward writing style, or how this somehow felt both too long and too short, or probably a bunch of other stuff, but what it comes down to is I'm nosy. The Kirkus review excerpt inside the paperback’s front cover should have given me an idea of what to expect: “A Cinderella story set in Ghana … A Crazy Rich Asians for West Africa.I picked it up because it was one of Reece’s book club books and although I knew I wanted to start a new book, I also knew I would totally be hooked on Steve Kornacki’s khakis the entire time I was reading so it had to be light. Author Peace Adzo Medie is known to be an advocate for women's rights and this story, ultimately, is about just that. I don’t think I was quite as disappointed in this book as you were, but on the other hand, I didn’t find anyone very sympathetic or have much patience with it.

While Eli and Muna’s relationship is the most obvious source of Afi’s strife, it wasn’t handled well enough to become the most *compelling* tension in this story (more on that later.I thought this was going to be a book about a woman overcoming obstacles and taking control of her destiny. All their unique experiences really revealed that there are many ways to be hated by your community. An intriguing and thought-provoking sentence opens the novel His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie and demands an undivided reader’s attention. This was a brilliantly told novel with deep characterization, and a well written heroine of our time that addressed significant cultural references, and the injustices relating to gender, class and wealth. Afi is well aware that Eli has another “woman” and a child who he lives with close by, but she is married to him and there are some expectations for a marriage.

It was a real page turner with a lot of information on a -to me- foreign culture, which made it very enjoyable. The premise is that Afi, is a young seamstress from a rural town in Ghana who wins the proverbial lottery when she’s selected by her family’s wealthy benefactors to marry their favourite son, Eli, who’s involved with a woman they do not approve of.Eli is in a relationship with a Liberian woman and has a child by her (who suffers from sickle cell anemia) – but the woman refuses to acknowledge the Ganyo family (something they are not used to given their wealth and business and political connections in Ghana) and so Aunty draws up the plan to get Afi married to force Eli away from her. In this way, more time “in the light” about Muna and Eli’s relationship would’ve helped cement Eli as the central villain of this story—having reached the end, I am kind of peeved at his portrayal.