Adzo Medie's Peaceful Tale of Love: The Story of His Only Wife

L Jackson: I loved every moment of reading this… from the very beginning it was firey. Better than any movie.

United Kingdom on Sep 26, 2023

LeeLee:

Canada on Aug 11, 2023

Tomi Odanye: A well written book, that encompasses the struggles of women,particularly African women and the patriachal society and culture they are brought up in. Shows that women are also tools in bringing down other women. The book shows us the journey of efi and her finding and standing up for herself and breaking societal stereotypes. All in all I loved the book and I wished it was longer

United Kingdom on Jul 10, 2023

BookLoverUpAllNight: I had this book for a while, but for some reason kept putting of reading it. It was really good, but i didn't understand why the author kept introducing secondary characters, but never followed through for some juicy drama. Set in Ghana, Afi is selected by the rich Ganyos family, actually the matriarch known as Aunty to marry her favorite son, Eli and get him away from the woman that Aunty and his family despises. Afi and her mother are treated very well by Aunty the past several years and look upon this opportunity as such a great and grand gesture. Afi is to wed Eli and get him out of the clutches of this manly rude woman who keeps Eli away from his family and his daughter who is sickly away from his family as well. Afi is wed but with stand-in as Eli is out of town on business and Afi wonders what type of important business pulls a man away from his wedding. She is placed in a townhome with all the creature comforts but doesn't meet her husband for 8 weeks. Plenty of drama ensues and Afi tries to get Eli to visit and talk to her. She gets her wish and Eli notices her and the wo have great chemistry and consummate the marriage. Afi believes all is well as Eli tells her to be...

United States on Jun 06, 2023

Ifemliochukwu ChizimIfemliochukwu Chizim: Very interesting read.

France on Apr 29, 2023

OLT: This story of a young woman in Ghana is perhaps a bit bittersweet but ends just exactly the way it needs to for the protagonist. The heroine Afi is from a small village. She's poor, living with her widowed mother in a hardscrabble life, but she is also beautiful and has excellent sewing skills.

When the matriarch of a very powerful and rich Ghanaian family arranges for Afi to be married to her son Eli, Afi has no choice but to agree. It's the way to improve her and her mother's situation in life. So she is married by proxy (Eli's brother Richard stands in for him at the traditional Ghanaian wedding ceremony) and then is sent off to the big city (Accra) to live in a luxurious apartment where she is somewhat overwhelmed by her new modern life. A new life without a husband in it since Eli does not show himself for several months.

It turns out that Eli is in love, but not with her. He has had a Liberian mistress for several years and only married Afi because of pressure put on him by his dysfunctional family, who do not like his mistress and will not allow him to marry her. He and his mistress and their daughter live in his primary residence. As Afi becomes more and more...

United States on Apr 14, 2021

Prerna Mishra: Afi marries Eli in absentia, with his brother standing in for him. This is not the only odd thing about their marriage. She is his wife, but he also has a girlfriend, Amun’s who lives in what should be Afi and Eli’s marital home. Afi is tasked with evicting her from the house and make place for herself in Eli’s house and heart. Will she be successful? And will Muna’s eviction necessarily imply Afi’s monopoly in the relationship?

I liked Afi’s characterization. She has her head clear from the beginning, but the clarity is well- balanced by the timidity that comes naturally to her on account of being a fatherless girl from a smaller town and a poorer background. Eli is also not the quintessential rich, bad boy; till the end the reader doesn’t know whether to be angry with him or give him the benefit of the doubt. I did find the love between them to be abrupt, but from Afi’s perspective it could just be an attraction to someone who showed care and concern for her. The supporting characters, except Evelyn, are irritating but they are designed to be exactly that. I would have also liked a longer, detailed climax.

His only wife is a complex tale of...

United States on Apr 11, 2021

Amazon Customer: I really enjoyed reading about Afi’s journey and her growth. The weight of society and traditions was well portrayed. I wish we would have had more in depth conversations between Eli and Afi. He seemed to enjoy the ease of the relationship with her and how it allowed him to keep the peace with his family but deep down I think he was in love with Muna. Although I found it interesting that Muna was ok with all of this just to keep Eli. Basically had Afi « stayed in her lane », Muna seemed to be content to wait with a promise of marriage once his mother died. My only regret is that the book ended far too abruptly. I believe that Eli was convinced that she would come back just like she did when she was pregnant. It would have been nice to see how this situation developed maybe months later or even after his mother died, after she became very successful or when she met someone else.
As an aside I really enjoyed her relationship with Evelyn. She was a true friend. The only person to really tell it like it is and had her best interest at heart.

United Kingdom on Feb 23, 2021