The Secret Lives of the Four Wives

African-born poet Lola Shoneyin sheds a fascinating light on the little-known world of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria, in her powerful and thought-provoking debut novel, The Secret Lives of the Four Wives (previously titled The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives). Fans of The 19th Wife and HBO's Big Love will be enthralled by this riveting tale of a prosperous African family thrown into turmoil when the patriarch adds a young, well-educated fourth wife into the mix who threatens to expose the other wives' deepest, darkest secrets.

"Alternately funny, shocking, and sad . . . a complex depiction of family and culture in modern-day Nigeria.
--Sacramento Book Review

"A magical writer. . . . A] delicious story."--Huffington Post

ISBN-13: 9780061946387

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Publication Date: 07-05-2011

Pages: 304

Product Dimensions: 7.90h x 5.30w x 0.70d

Shoneyin, Lola: -

Lola Shoneyin's work includes three books of poems: So All the Time I Was Sitting on an Egg (1997), Song of a Riverbird (2002) and For the Love of Flight (2010) and two children's books: Mayowa and the Masquerades (2010) and Iyaji, the Housegirl (2014). Her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives (2010), was long-listed for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and won the PEN Oakland 2011 Josephine Miles Literary Award. After teaching both in Nigeria and abroad for many years, Shoneyin now lives in Lagos, Nigeria and organises the Ake Arts and Book Festival.