Book Review: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

23 April 2022

Driven by the need for her family’s financial stability and a sense of obligation to ‘Aunty’ (Faustina Ganyo - her family’s wealthy benefactor), Afia marries a man she has never met. Her marriage to Elikem (Eli) is a scheme by Aunty to make Afia ‘his only wife’, rescue Eli from “the Liberian woman” and reunite him with his family. A plan that the entire Ganyo family rally behind.

Afia moves from her small village life in Ho to Accra where she now lives in a luxurious flat & tries to get used to the upper class lifestyle that comes with being a Ganyo. However, Afia finds herself in a marriage she did not envision and winning back Eli is not as easy as everyone had made it seem.

Through the book, Afia grapples with settling into life in Accra, learning to be a fashion designer & building her fashion business (which she does successfully) and most importantly, being Eli’s only wife. At the end of the book, Afia comes to the realisation that Eli never needed rescuing; was never bewitched by the Liberian woman; and in fact, the Liberian woman was anything but what the Ganyo’s have been telling her.

Afia comes to the realisation that the only person that needs rescuing is herself. She has to make a choice and chooses her happiness and peace of mind over money accompanied with tears and sleepless nights.

This book was easy to read, I was absorbed in it and eager to know how events will unfold. Afia grows into a strong woman fighting against both family & cultural expectations. In this book, Peace Adzo Medie highlights the patriarchal society we live in where it is ok for a man to have multiple lovers but different when it’s a woman, she causes us to examine society’s expectation of marriage especially on the woman & what happiness means.

Header photo by Dami Akinbode on Unsplash