Yejide Ajayi

Yejide is one of the two main voices in the novel and the novel begins and ends with a chapter from her perspective. In total, 28 of 42 chapters are told from her perspective, mostly in parts 1, 2, and 4. Yejide is the wife of Akin, and the mother of Olamide, Sesan, and Rotimi - born in that order. While Akin is her husband, her children are the result of her extramarital affair with her husband’s brother Dotun. She met Akin in college, and they bonded together over the political strife in Nigeria, attending rallies and protests together. She insisted that they wait to have sex until they were married, a promise to which Akin agrees. Though he tells her the truth - some penises get hard and some do not - he does not tell her (and she does not know) that in order to reproduce, the man must...