His Only Wife is the debut fiction novel by Peace Adzo Medie, published in 2020.
It was picked for the Reese Witherspoon book club and was an Observer, Time Magazine and New York Times Book of the Year in 2020.
There’s been a few book on the Reese Witherspoon book club list that I have really enjoyed, including Daisy Jones and The Six, so I decided to give this one a go.
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Plot
Afi Tekple is a bright young seamstress from a small town in Ghana. After the death of her father, Afi and her mother suffer a massive change in fortune. Their once comfortable life is ripped away and they are left penniless and homeless.
Afi is therefore convinced to marry a man she has never even met. Elikem Ganyo is a wealthy businessman who can offer her family financial security and the key to a lifestyle she has always wanted.
Meanwhile Elikem’s family are hoping Afi can distract him from a relationship with another woman they believe is inappropriate.
However when Afi arrives in Accra, ready to be the perfect wife, she realises her fairy-tale ending might not be all she had hoped for.
His Only Wife Book Review
I’m a bit on the fence with this one. There were parts of the story I really liked, but as a whole it failed to grab me in the way I’d hoped.
It’s the first book I’ve read based in Ghana and I really enjoyed how immersive it was. The glimpses into Ghanian culture, especially the treatment of women was both fascinating and infuriating.
The narrative felt authentic and it really highlighted many issues surrounding marriage, social expectations and the role of a woman in a man’s world.
I liked the contemporary spin on Cinderella. A rich man “rescuing” a poor woman. The author poked fun at the traditional fairy tale and this was more the tale of a young woman trying to find independence, rather than one seeking rescue.
However, I did feel like the characters were a little one dimensional. Afi was young and naïve…until suddenly she wasn’t. I’m all for characters finding their confidence and self worth but it just seemed to appear from nowhere. This progression in character all felt a little rushed to me.
In all honesty, I found myself more intrigued by the “other woman” and would have been interested in reading more from her perspective.
There are many things to like about this book and I particularly enjoyed the message. However the characters just fell a little short for me.