Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Coming soon to Netflix 'Comic tragic
topical and entertaining in equal measure' - Bernardine Evaristo To the dismay of her
ambitious mother Bolanle marries into a polygamous family where she is the fourth wife of a
rich rotund patriarch Baba Segi. She is a graduate and therefore considered a great prize in
Nigeria but even graduates must produce children and her husband's persistent bellyache is a
sign that things are not as they should be. She only wants to escape to a quiet life but the
others disapprove of the newest youngest cleverest addition to the family. Treated with
respect by her husband she is viewed with suspicion by her seniors - who fear she may unlock
their well-guarded secret. Through the voices of Baba Segi and his four wives Lola Shoneyin
weaves a vibrant story of love secrets and a family like every other - happy and unhappy
truthful and not sometimes kind sometimes competitive always bound by blood and the past.
