Eli and Yaya’s final confrontations with Afi keenly expose how the Ganyo family’s entire structure and self-worth is deeply rooted in patriarchy and class antagonism.

Eli, who finally does visit Afi and even becomes a part-time husband to her, refuses to talk about his situation or the woman. I LOVE books that are set in Ghana and I have such an affinity for Ghana’s culture, I wanted to inhale this book. Not to say that she didn’t work hard, just that such success surely doesn’t come so quickly and easily even to people who work hard. Marriage could be the key to the life she's always wanted, but when she meets Eli, she realises her fairy-tale ending might not be so straightforward. Set in Ghana, the story of a young woman married off to a man who has a girlfriend and child, in the hope she'll get rid of the other woman.

Before the marriage Afi is informed of Elikem's particular situation: he has a daughter with a woman from Liberia, whom is hated by the Ganyos. 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 .

Her mother and her uncle were so demanding that I could barely stand it and reflected on how different family relationships were in this culture. I also wish that we could have seen more of Afi without the Ganyos (for example scenes while she's studying fashion would have been nice, or even her socialising with more people outside of her apartment). I didn’t like how she ignored Muna’s position as the person her husband had been involved with first. When I read those words, I thought surely this novel was set in the past because who does that in the present.Bottom line: I could say something about the clear and straightforward writing style, or how this somehow felt both too long and too short, or probably a bunch of other stuff, but what it comes down to is I'm nosy. Eli is in a relationship with a Liberian woman and has a child by her (who suffers from sickle cell anemia) – but the woman refuses to acknowledge the Ganyo family (something they are not used to given their wealth and business and political connections in Ghana) and so Aunty draws up the plan to get Afi married to force Eli away from her. Peace Adzo Medie’s 2020 debut novel was the first disappointment I’ve had from Reese Witherspoon’s book club.