Written By: MIM!—Nigerian poet Lola Shoneyin (whose father-in-law is Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka) was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and spent her childhood at boarding school in Edinburgh. She studied English at Ogun State University, and went on to teach English and Drama at an international secondary school in Nigeria. Last year, Lola made her stunning debut as an author with the novel The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi's Wives (also published under the title The Secret Lives Of The Four Wives), a perceptive, entertaining, and eye-opening story about the domestic drama that disrupts in a polygamous family living in modern-day Nigeria. The characters: Baba Segi ... a plump, vain, and prosperous middle-aged man of robust appetites, Baba Segi is the patriarch of a large household that includes a quartet of wives and seven children. But his desire to possess more just might be his undoing. And his wives ... Iya Segi—the bride of Baba Segi's youth, a powerful, vindictive woman who will stop at nothing to protect her favored position as ruler of her husband's home. Iya Tope—Baba Segi's second wife, a shy, timid woman whose decency and lust for life are overshadowed by fear. Iya Femi—the third wife, a scheming woman with crimson lips and expensive tastes who is determined to attain all that she desires, no matter what the cost. Bolanle—Babi Segi's fourth and youngest wife, an educated woman wise to life's misfortunes who inspires jealousy in her fellow wives ... and who harbors a secret that will expose shocking truths about them all.
