The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives : A Novel

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 of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria. The struggles, rivalries, intricate family politics, and the interplay of personalities and relationships within the complex private world of a polygamous union come to life in The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives — Big Love and The 19th Wife set against a contemporary African background. Attempting to rise above the secrets of her past, Bolanle, a university graduate, marries Baba Segi, who promises her everything in exchange for agreeing to become his fourth wife. Thus she enters into a polygamous world filled with expensive clothes, a generous monthly allowance ... and three Segi wives who disapprove of the newest, youngest, most educated addition to the family. There's Iya Femi, a fiery vixen with a taste for money; Iya Tope, a shy woman whose kindness is eclipsed by terror; and Iya Segi, the first, most lethal, and merciless of them all. Bolanle quickly becomes Baba Segi's prized possession ... until her very presence unlocks a secret that the other wives have long since guarded, and unleashing it could change life as they know it Baba Segi's fourth wife, the young, college-educated Bolanle, sends his household into turmoil, causing his other three wives to become jealous and resentful and to plot her downfall