The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives (Paperback)

A Rabelaisian picture of polygamous marriage,comically capturing the physical realities of ordinary Nigerian life. -- Giles Foden
A funny and moving story told with love and compassion ... a jewel of a novel -- Petina Gappah
Riotous... this debut novel is a real eye-opener: a deft, compelling and unsettling tale. -- Ailin Quinlan * Irish Examiner *
This deft, lightly spun story packs quite a punch. Shoneyin's unravelling of a family is rooted in and flavoured by Nigeria, but speaks more widely. It is a book you'll want to eat in a sitting - and then start again -- Diran Adebayo
This first novel is a compelling, unsettling tale of a polygamous household and the women within Baba Segi's walls. Shoneyin's sharply written portrait of a family and a nation gripped by the past, yet surging into modernity, manages to be funny, disconcerting and violent all at once. An utterly gripping read. -- Patricia Duncker
A rich debut... an engrossing and beautifully written domestic tale of polygamy and rivalry set in her native Nigeria. * Harper's Bazaar *
Riveting... a truly compelling tale... -- Davina Morris * The Voice *
An engrossing portrayal of a polygamous household... a rich portrait of a family on the verge of collapse. -- Yasmin Sulaiman * The List *
An insightful and compelling tale set within a polygamous household * Pride *
A novel of clamorous intensity. With such Chaucerian tumult, one expects comedy and there is certainly some humour here, but much pain too... Shoneyin's language is that of a poet, both extravagant and exact... Well-structured and with a gratifying resolution. -- Jane Housham * Guardian *
Exquisitely written... Shoneyin's prose is by turns violent, evocative, witty, humane and gripping. -- Danuta Kean * Mslexia *
A bodacious first novel -- Bernadine Evaristo * Wasafiri *