His only wife - Peace Adozo Medie

https://rhbooks.com.ng/?ap_id=Jannaonyemaobi

You can purchase this book from Rovingheights with the link above.

His only wife is set in Ghana and it follows the story of a young seamstress, Afi who finds herself in an arranged marriage to the son of her family’s benefactor, Aunty.


Aunty meets with Olivia (Afi’s mother) and proposes the marriage to her because she does not like Eli (Aunty’s son) current partner Muna. Muna is a Liberian woman who does not bend to Aunty’s wishes. Olivia can never really say no to Aunty because she has been the one helping her since her husband died.

The book starts off with the traditional wedding of Afi and Eli. Eli is absent so his brother stands in for him as the groom. To me, this was the first red flag in the marriage because I don’t understand why a groom would miss his own wedding because of a business trip. After the wedding, Afi finds out that her marital life is not how she envisioned it to be and this leads her to a journey of self discovery.

It is written in the first person narrative, all the characters are seen through Afi’s eyes which is okay but there are some characters I really wanted to know, (I.e Muna and Eli). I wish Eli’s voice was heard in this book, because a lot of the things he did did not make sense to me. Maybe if I saw things from his perspective, I would have understood him (would i really have?) but still you never can tell.

I love the fact that the author made the women in this book stand up for what they believe in. She created independent and empowered women in this book. It was amazing to read.

Another important thing that was pointed out was how the rich expect so much from the people they help and has little concern about their feelings. This is seen in Aunty’s character.

It also points out the things that men thing then need to possess to prove their masculinity which in this case is money and women, and how the society normalize this toxic masculinity trait.

It is an easy yet compelling and engaging read. I gave it four out of five stars on good reads because a lot of things were rushed in the book especially the character development. One minute Afi is trying to please everyone, the next minute she is an independent woman that does not let other people’s opinion influence her decisions. I wish there were emphasis on the growth process.

It is a good book and I would recommend it.

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