The fact that she doesn't know Elikem seems a small price to pay for a marriage that offers her family financial security and provides the key to a lifestyle she has always wanted.īut when Afi arrives in Accra, Ghana's gleaming capital, she realises her fairy-tale ending might not be all she had hoped for. In one of the most talked about and hilarious debuts of the year, Afi Tekple, a bright young seamstress from a small town in Ghana, is convinced by her family to marry a man she has never met.Įlikem Ganyo is a wealthy businessman whose family has chosen Afi in the hope that she will distract him from a relationship with another woman they think is inappropriate. 'Vivid, witty and utterly absorbing.' Daily Mail For readers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Candice Carty-Williams, His Only Wife is the story of an indomitable and relatable heroine that illuminates what it means to be a woman in a rapidly changing world.A N OBSERVER, TIME MAGAZINE & NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2020 A REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK But it is Accra that eventually wins Afi’s heart and gives her a life of independence that she never could have imagined for herself.Ī brilliant scholar and a fierce advocate for women’s rights, author Peace Adzo Medie infuses her debut novel with intelligence and humour. It turns out that he is in love with another woman, whom his family disapproves of Afi is supposed to win him back on their behalf.

He sends a stand-in to his own wedding, and only weeks after Afi is married and installed in a plush apartment in the capital city of Accra does she meet her new husband. She acquiesces but soon realizes that Elikem is not quite the catch he seemed. Then one day she is offered a life-changing opportunity-a proposal of marriage from the wealthy family of Elikem Ganyo, a man she doesn’t truly know. She lives in a small town in Ghana with her widowed mother, spending much of her time in her uncle Pious’s house with his many wives and children.

“Elikem married me in absentia he did not come to our wedding.”Īfi Tekple is a young seamstress whose life is narrowing rapidly.

His only wife novel