Summary

In Chapter 1, the first-person narrator, Afi, opens the novel in past tense, noting her husband Elikem, Eli for short, did not attend their wedding in January.

She describes the wedding, which was a traditional ceremony in the town of Ho, in Ghana, at her family’s compound which belonged to Tago (uncle) Pious, the head of the family. Her cousin and best friend, Mawusi, and mother help her get ready. Afi worries about the marriage, as she does not know Eli, and worries she will let both their families down.

She notes Eli’s mother, Aunty Ganyo was the one who found her and her mother a place to live and her mother a job when her father, Illustrious, died 10 years ago in 2004, and Pious said there was nothing he could do. Aunty suggested the marriage between Eli and Afi, and Afi’s mother...