Description

Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ is a stunning debut novel that was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017, praised by Margaret Atwood as scorching, gripping, and ultimately lovely, and hailed by Stylist as one of the must-read books of the year. Set in Nigeria during the political turbulence of the 1980s and 1990s, this is a powerful story about love, marriage, motherhood, and the pressures that can tear a family apart.

Yejide and Akin are a young, educated couple deeply in love, defying family expectations by choosing to have a monogamous marriage. But when Yejide fails to conceive, the weight of tradition, in-law interference, and societal expectations begins to crush their relationship. A second wife is brought into the home, setting off a chain of events that unravels secrets, tests loyalties, and forces both Yejide and Akin to confront devastating truths about themselves and their marriage.

Adébáyọ̀ writes with breathtaking emotional precision, weaving together themes of fertility, identity, family honour, patriarchy, and the lengths people go to in order to protect the ones they love. The novel is told in alternating voices, giving readers an intimate view into the hearts and minds of both husband and wife.

This novel resonates deeply with readers across Kenya and East Africa, where themes of marriage pressure, fertility expectations, extended family dynamics, and the tension between tradition and modernity are lived experiences. A triumph of African literary fiction that stands alongside works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and Buchi Emecheta.

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