House Woman - Adorah Nworah

Nothing comforting about this new release - an unsettling, tense, pacy thriller set between Lagos and Texas.

This novel follows Ikemefuna as she is drawn into a marriage and a family full of secrets and suspicion. It’s a brilliant read that navigates gender roles and family obligation with unpredictable outcomes.

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My name is Ikemefuna Nwosu, and I am your wife.

One day in Lagos, young dancer Ikemefuna is put on a plane to Houston to meet her new husband, Nna. Promises are made to her – about her education, about the man she will marry, about her freedom.

None of them are kept.

A few months later, self-professed feminist Nna finds a beautiful woman cooking in his parents’ kitchen. They tell him Ikemefuna is his wife, there to give them the grandson they’ve been waiting for. She appears obedient, malleable.

But she is no ordinary wife.

In the Texas heat, patience runs on short supply and the atmosphere in the house becomes increasingly strained, increasingly violent. Desperation makes people do strange things…