For a polygamist like Baba Segi, his collection of wives and a gaggle of children are the symbol of prosperity, success and validation of his manhood. Everything runs reasonably smoothly in the patriarchal home, until wife number four intrudes on this family romance.

Bolanle, a graduate amongst the semi-literate wives, is hated from the start. Baba Segi's glee at bagging a graduate doesn't help matters. Worse, Bolanle's arrival threatens to do more than simply ruffle feathers. She's unwittingly set to expose a secret that her co-wives intend to protect, at all costs.

Lola Shoneyin's light and ironic touch exposes not only the rotten innards of Baba Segi's polygamous household in this cleverly plotted story; it also shows how women no educated or semi-literate, women in contemporary Nigeria can be as restricted, controlled and damaged by men - be they fathers, husbands, uncles, rapists - as they've never been.

Click here to read an extract.

• Price: N1,200
• ISBN: 978-978-48518-0-0
• Pages: 256

Blurbs

"A funny, moving story told with love and compassion... a jewel of a novel."  Petina Gappah

"More than a cautionary tale about polygamy, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is about identity, belonging and the lies that bind.  One of the best novels I've read on the Nigerian experience in the last ten years."  Molara Wood, Arts & Culture Editor, NEXT.

Reviews

Irish Examiner

Jamaica Gleaner