Jumia Books The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

African-born poet Lola Shoneyin makes her fiction debut with The Secret Lives Of Babi Segi’s Wives, a perceptive, entertaining, and eye-opening novel about polygamy in modern-day Nigeria. 

"An engrossing and beautifully written domestic tale of polygamy and rivalry."  - Harpers Bazaar
 

For Baba Segi, his collection of wives and gaggle of children are a symbol of prosperity, success, and a validation of his manhood. All is well in this patriarchal home until Baba arrives with wife number four, a quiet, college-educated, young woman named Bolanle. 

Jealous and resentful of this interloper who is stealing their husband’s attention, Baba’s three wives, begin to plan her downfall. How dare she not know her place, they whisper. How dare she offer to teach them to read. They will teach her instead, they vow and open their husbands' eyes to this wicked wind that has upturned the tranquillity of their home.

"This first novel is a compelling, unsettling tale of a polygamous household and the women within Baba Segi's walls. Shoneyin's sharply written portrait of a family and a nation gripped by the past, yet surging into modernity, manages to be funny, disconcerting and violent all at once. An utterly gripping read."  -  Patricia Duncker