His Only Wife: A Reese's Book Club Pick - 'Bursting with warmth, humour, and richly drawn characters'

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After a wedding sans the groom, Afi moves from her small Ghanian town to Accra, where she is put up in a ritzy condo and carefully looked after. Weeks elapse before Afi meets Elikem in person. In the meantime, Afi uses her newfound connections to enroll in a design school. He finally does appear and melts Afi’s heart. He is so much more than she imagines – and the young woman falls in love with her prince. Though their initial meeting goes well, Eli leaves again, giving no indication of when he might return. In the meantime, he suggests that Afi might want to enroll in school to help her fill her days. Learning of her skills as a seamstress and her interest in fashion, he sends his sister around to take Afi to the city’s design schools. His Only Wifeis a witty, smart, and moving debut novel about a brave young woman traversing the minefield of modern life with its taboos and injustices, living in a world of men who want their wives to be beautiful, to be good cooks and mothers, to be women who respect their husbands and grant them forbearance. And in Afi, Peace Medie has created a delightfully spunky and relatable heroine who just may break all the rules. His Only Wife Book Club Questions

Afi and Eli had a traditional ceremony, a wedding that Eli did not attend. He called Afi to tell her he was busy with work and could not get away. Despite this, the wedding was a grand affair, with many gifts brought to the bride’s family by the groom’s, more than the list of what they had requested. Gifts were given to the family members including the “father”, a role that her uncle relished for this event, her mother, and herself. The very next day after his first visit, Eli called to tell Afi that he arranged for his sister, Yaya, to take her to some of the fashion schools, make an introduction, and help her select one. She and Yaya began spending time together and socializing as well. Her character development is kind of rushed. At the end she finally seems to get her act together, but by then I was no longer enjoying her narrative. As time passes, and Afi begins studying fashion and bonding with her brother-in-law's lover, she begins to chafe against the constraints imposed by the Ganyos, who time and again tell her not too demand too much from her husband, and remind her—subtly and not—of the advantages brought by her marrying 'upward'. When Afi grows increasingly jealous of the 'Liberian woman', she begins to disregards the Ganyos' and her husband's wishes and demands.

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His Only Wifefollows the story of Afi Tekple, a young seamstress in Ho who is chosen by the wealthy Ganyo family to marry their son, Elikem, in a bid to get him out of the clutches of another woman. What ensues is an unconventional and unexpected love story, a collision of worlds, an awakening to new possibilities, the search for one’s identity, being true to oneself and creating your own destiny while navigating the demands of family and societal expectations. This novel is authentically Ghanaian and gave me vibes similar to Ama Ata Aidoo’s Changes,but set in contemporary Ghana. When Afi confronts Eli about the other woman at the end of the novel, she says to him that he wouldn’t like it if she also saw another man while with Eli. Let’s talk about this double standard that men like Eli try to hold on women. This story was eye opening, exposing me to a whole world and culture that I know nothing about. This is a valuable book portraying a very difficult subject foreign to many. Author Peace Adzo Medie is known to be an advocate for women's rights and this story, ultimately, is about just that. But even more, it is about a woman determining her own rights and discovering her own worth and value in a world run by men. Elikem married me in absentia; he did not come to our wedding.' When I read those words, I thought surely this novel was set in the past because who does that in the present. While the book is set in the past, it's not in the distant past. It's 2014.

I will say some of the promotion tried to compare it to Crazy Rich Asians and there are some similarities (mainly with wealth and a difficult spouse’s mother) but His Only Wife very much stands on its own. I also thought it’s more serious than Crazy Rich Asians. The synopsis Afi is in an impossible situation. Eli’s mother, Aunty, helped her family when they were struggling. And by her marrying Eli, it will help Afi’s mother financially. But she’s still forced to marry a man she hardly knows. What would you have done if you were Afi? Now, for my less profane thoughts: His Only Wife is an enthralling story about two Ghanian families, one love triangle, and the people and places caught in between them. The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

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We follow Afi through her experience as a wife wed to a man she doesn't even know, in a culture and world that doesn't truly value her as anything more than a wife with duties to care for her husband and give him a family. Even if that husband is unfaithful and even when, against all odds, she falls in love with him. A few days before the trip, Eli said he was going to Nigeria on business. Evelyn had an ad agency and was planning the second school for Afi’s business at a beach house. The shoot was supposed to happen after the trip, but Evelyn moved up the timeline to make use of a space that she said was available due to a shoot being canceled at the last minute. Shaking Everything Up

This title is an easy, enjoyable and nontraumatic read that I highly recommend to those who appreciate the work(s) of Abi Dare, Yaa Gyasi, Akwaeke Emezi and others. If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism. Left penniless after her father’s death, Afi and her mother survive thanks to the wealth of a benefactor, Aunty Faustina. When Aunty proposes an arranged marriage between her son, Elikem, and Afi, it is an opportunity to repay her kindness and to enjoy the comforts of wealth again. Only Elikem’s secret affair with a woman whom his family dislikes complicates the offer. Nevertheless, Afi agrees. Peace Adzo Medie’s mesmerizing debut novel lives up to both the power of its first sentence and the promise of its author’s first name . . . At a time when adventure is scarce, Medie gives you a lot to look forward to, think about and be grateful for.” This book’s review meme is for my Love & Hip Hop fans. For those of y’all that are exceeding your reading goals instead of catching up on VH1, here’s a little context LOL.In her sparkling debut novel, Ghanaian writer and academic Peace Adzo Medie uses humor, candor and feminism to examine womanhood, marriage and agency in modern Ghana.” A modern tale of one woman discovering her own sense of purpose in Ghana amidst family drama, expectations, and marriage. I'm not one who automatically goes for domestic stories, so extremely pleased to say that this was such a fantastic read.

Afi Tekpl is a 21-year-old seamstress living in a small town in Ghana with her mother. After the death of her father, everything up under her was ripped away. Until the Ganyo's arrange a marriage for her that changes her whole life. The one problem? The man she is to marry is with another woman that the Ganyo's believe is tearing their relationship with their son Eli apart. The Ganyo's tell Afi and her mother that the other woman is ugly, muscular, an alcoholic, and an unfit mom. A fierce and funny debut novel . . . A deeply engrossing chronicle of contemporary Ghanaian womanhood.” I also was conflicted by how they, Afi & Eli, fell in "love" — what passes for love? I feel if Afi was even a stitch as logical as Evelyn, she would have been happier. Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.” Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel His Only Wife is a book you will read and continue to think about for months to come. The story opens up in a small town in Ghana, we meet Afi Tekple a young seamstress who is about to get married to a man she has never met, what’s more the man does not show up to their wedding because he is on a business trip. How did Afi end up in this predicament? Afi’s dad died and her mother was unable to provide for her, they lived on the charity of Aunty Ganyo. They felt so indebted to Aunty Ganyo so when she suggested that Afi marry her son, Elikem Ganyo, her mother forced her to say yes!His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie is a book centered around a Ghanian woman and her community. This book is a work of fiction and will interest you from the first line. The story is unique and will make you fall in love with the writing.