His Only Wife

Peace Adzo Medie 

OneWorld

Otago Daily Times, March 17th 2021

Cast out of Ghana’s middle class by her father’s death, twenty-one-year-old Afi Tekple and her mother have spent the last decade living on the charity of one of Ho’s wealthiest businesswomen, ‘Aunty ‘Faustina Ganyo. But for all her material success, Aunty has problems of her own; her favourite son has been estranged from her by a Liberian woman who refuses to let him see his family and who uses their sickly daughter as a bargaining chip to prevent him from ending their relationship.

Realising her good-hearted son will never be able to turn his back on the mother of his child of his own volition, Aunty decides to provide him with a ‘proper’ wife. And who better than the respectful, hardworking, and beautiful Afi? Despite her misgivings about being married to a man she hardly knows, Afi sees the potential benefits that could come from the union and is pleased to have the opportunity to repay Aunty for her years of kindness. She even dares to hope they might come to love one another, given time. 

The first disappointment comes when Eli marries her in absentia, and she starts her new life in Accra not at Eli’s house but in an apartment owned by her brother-in-law, right next door to his own girlfriend (whom Aunty disapproves of almost as the Liberian). It is nearly two months before she lays eyes on her husband and their first encounter is both brief and awkward, but she does all she can to make him happy, and he is soon staying over on a regular basis.

Afi soon becomes accustomed to her new and luxurious life: moving in elevated social circles, attending fashion school, and building a new house for her mother. But Eli refuses to discuss his other relationship and, despite advice to remain patient, a jealous Afi takes matters into her own hands, a decision that threatens to destroy everything she has fought to achieve

As satisfying as it is to watch Afi transform from an obedient and dutiful wife to a proud and independent woman prepared to fight for the right to have her own needs and desires met, what I found most interesting about the novelis its portrayal of Ghanaian society. The opulence of Afi’s life in Accra stands in sharp contrast to the poverty of Ho, but in both places, familial obligations take precedence over personal freedom, and sexism, prejudice, and opportunism pervade society. Richard’s girlfriend counsels Afi to accept that most men maintain multiple wives or mistresses and advises her to save and invest every penny she gets from Eli. Afi’s paternal uncle Pious is as quick to claim his right to her good fortune as he was to disavow responsibility for her after her father’s death, demanding a regular allowance and sending his youngest children to her to look after. And the Liberian woman is demonised as much for her dark skin and mannish appearance as for her refusal to pay Aunty due obeisance.

Despite this, the novel is full of self-made women, suggesting it is also a place where a determined woman can, with luck and good management, make her own way in the world. In this aspect at least, I couldn’t help feeling that His Only Wife is closer to the romantic fairy-tale Afi dreams of than to reality, but in a world desperate for inspirational stories, this is no bad thing.