"Elikem married me in absentia; he did not come to our wedding."
From the blurb: "Afi Tekple is a young seamstress in Ghana. She is smart; she is pretty; and she has been convinced by her mother to marry a man she does not know. Afi knows who he is, of course--Elikem is a wealthy businessman whose mother has chosen Afi in the hopes that she will distract him from his relationship with a woman his family claims is inappropriate. But Afi is not prepared for the shift her life takes when she is moved from her small hometown of Ho to live in Accra, Ghana's gleaming capital, a place of wealth and sophistication where she has days of nothing to do but cook meals for a man who may or may not show up to eat them. She has agreed to this marriage in order to give her mother the financial security she desperately needs, and so she must see it through. Or maybe not?"
My thoughts: This is such a well-written and compelling book. I had a lot of sympathy for Afi and her situation. She's a bit naive when she first arrives in Accra, and she tries so hard to be a dutiful wife. But it's hard when Eli is never around; then when he does come around and Afi starts to fall in love with him, there's still the problem of the other woman. But Afi has spunk and an inner strength that I applauded. I loved how she defied everyone to find her own success and happiness. One of the other things I loved about this novel was being immersed in the culture and traditions of Ghana and getting to see the roles that women are still expected to fill there. It was very eye-opening, and sometimes sad. But Afi's story is full of heart and hope.
Happy Reading!
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