Iya Segi is the ruler of the home and partitions out the goods in the home. The other wives must supplicate themselves to Iya Segi if they wish to get anything for themselves or their children.
Iya Tope is the second wife. She is shy and quiet and thinks the right things to do, but never quite manages to do the right thing because she doesn't want to fall into bad graces with Iya Segi.
Iya Femi is sneaky and scheming. She wants everything for herself and will do absolutely anything to get it.
Then there is Bolanle who, after several years of marriage is still childless. It is here, where we join the story. Baba Segi has decided that something must be done about Bolanle and her childlessness. Out of all of his wives Bolanle is the only university-educated however, and it is because of this that she refuses to see the local witch-doctors. On the advise of an elder in the village, Baba Segi takes Bolanle to the hospital because the elder informs him that Bolanle is educated and this is the only type of doctor she will respect.
Throughout this novel the story of the wives is weaved. How they became Baba Segi's wives and why the first three wives are so dead-set against Bolanle staying in their family.
Then, the foundation of the family is rocked when a family secret is told by Iya Segi and its telling changes the family forever.
For me, this book was hard to read because Baba Segi's first three wives were so mean in their desire to remove Bolanle from the household. However, the writer told such a good tale that all I wanted to do was continue reading the book so I could find out what happened to Bolanle and the three wives. And when the book was done, there was a very good ending for Bolanle that was better than I could have imagined. For me, that made it worth reading about the difficulties that the first three wives reigned down on Bolanle.
Please Note: For anyone concerned, the author is not gratuitous when discussing sex, but it is very much a part of the book.
Rating: 9 / 10
ISBN: 9780061946370
Publisher: William Morrow
Year Published: 2010
Edition: 1st / 1st Printing