This leads to both Afi and her mother making some shrewd choices. His Only Wife also touches on the fact that women – such as Afi’s mother – are left in a very vulnerable positions when their husbands die, as they often don’t have any assets or money of their own. She has a passion for making clothes and wants to be a designer, she has friends she enjoys socialising with, she has her own strong will and ideas and this is something she has to balance against the way she was raised – to pretty much fulfil the achievement of becoming a good, dutiful wife. This is something Afi struggles with and it is her character development that makes the story such a joy to read. It wasn’t easy being the key to other people’s happiness, their victory, and their vindication. So Afi is drafted in to keep Eli on the right path and be a textbook dutiful wife: The problem being that Eli is in a relationship (and has a child) with a woman who refuses to play be the rules society demands of her, she won’t change her life to become a dutiful wife and won’t bend to the demands of her potential mother-in-law. Afi’s journeyĪfi’s is chosen by her new husband’s mother as an ideal solution to a problem. The traditional wedding also means men can have more than one wife (women cannot have more than one husband):Īll the traditional marriage does is recognize you as the first wife, but not the only wife. If you are wondering how this can possibly be legal, it is a traditional wedding, rather than one with a marriage certificate. The opening sentence sets the scene nicely – Afi’s husband doesn’t actually bother attending their wedding.

Opening sentence: Elikem married me in absentia he did not come to our wedding. The light-hearted tone, often wry observations and zippy pace meant I effortlessly read this book, even though the story was one that left me with raised eyebrows as it is set in a culture very different from mine, where women are still expected to, essentially, know their place. Set in Ghana, it follows the story of Afi who finds herself the sort-of-willing participant in an arranged marriage.

I very much enjoyed reading His Only Wife, the debut novel from Peace Adzo Medie.

His only wife book summary