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The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives pdf Free Download & Characters

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives pdf Book Overview

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin unravels the tangled web of a polygamist household in Nigeria, where secrets and ambition collide. Baba Segi, a proud patriarch with four wives and seven children, brings educated Bolanle into his family, igniting chaos. Her inability to conceive becomes a source of contention, while her calm demeanor and unyielding kindness disrupt the fragile dynamics among the other wives. As love and rivalry clash, hidden truths threaten to dismantle Baba Segi’s world in unexpected ways.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives Book Summary

An educated wife means trouble.
The three wives of Baba Segi are managing their seven children just fine when he takes it into his head to marry again. To make matters worse, his fourth wife is a graduate from the university, an uppity young woman who knows too much for her own good. To make matters even worse yet, in two years she has not produced a child. Baba Segi is a plump, flatulent, 42-year-old Nigerian polygamist, whose bladder control is not particularly good. Calm, intelligent, patient Bolanle has entered a household where she is not wanted, where the other wives will try anything to drive her out. And to everyone’s amazement, Bolanle peacefully continues loving the other wives and their children, treating everyone in the household kindly, convinced that her love will win them over. When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife’s childlessness. Meet 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.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives Author – Lola Shoneyin

Lola Shoneyin’s work includes three books of poems: So All the Time I Was Sitting on an Egg (1997), Song of a Riverbird (2002) For the Love of Flight (2010) and two children’s books: Mayowa and the Masquerades (2010) and Iyaji, the Housegirl (2014). The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 and went on to win the PEN Oakland 2011 Josephine Miles Literary Award and the 2011 ANA/Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize. Her children’s book, Mayowa and the Masquerades won the 2011 Atiku Abubakar Prize for Children’s literature. Shoneyin is the director of Ake Arts & Book Festival which takes place every November in Abeokuta, Nigeria. She lives in Nigeria. www.akefestial.org

The secret lives of baba segi's wives by Lola Shoneyin pdf
Lola Shoneyin

Information About the Book The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives(Amazon)

The secret lives of baba segi's wives by Lola Shoneyin pdf
The secret lives of baba segi’s wives by Lola Shoneyin
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow; 1st edition (June 29, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061946370
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061946370
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.97 x 7.5 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #491 in African Literature (Books)
  • #4,504 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
  • #23,815 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
  • Customer Reviews: 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,006 ratings

The Secret Lives of  Baba Segi’s  Wives pdf Characters

Mr. Alao aka Baba segi

The rich man who signifies the authority of the house and is seen to exert so much authority. However, he is only an image of authority. He seems to always be found acting unknowingly. Acting the rich man, and also acting the wives’ scheme. Allegorically, in a traditional society, he represents man! Man who is greater than woman. The unequal imbalance of the society. The author deployed the use of irony at the end to let us see that he was only a man who had played perfectly into the scheme of his wife(wives) until Bolanle came. He was still the “man” after the unraveling of the mystery as he carried out his judgment on each wife like a judge reading the sentence of an accused person.

Mama Segi
The real art woman in the world of Baba Segi. She is like the hidden play master who understands her wit. Like a game of chess, she makes the decision, yet hidden, making Baba Segi to appear as the master. Well, Baba Segi is the master. She is the most senior wife. Her childhood also shed much light into her hidden plans and why she must do what she has to do. Baba Segi was her goldmine. Her hard earned money and she must do all to protect her money! She was an industrious woman but extremely wise. However, her wisdom although saved the wives at the end to remain in Baba Segi’s house but didn’t stop the truth from unraveling. She showed the wives how to remain in Baba Segi’s house except Bolanle. Allegorically she depicts how things can influence or dictate our decision.

Iya Tope
The timid woman. Baba Segi’s second wife. The author’s choice of word selectively coined makes us see an innocent childlike heart in an adult. We see beauty in her imperfections. We also see the injustice of the society. She was married off by her father as a COMPENSATION of a poor turn out of farm produce to a rich man.

Iya Femi
I think a background into her childhood makes us see or somewhat understand her actions.She wanted to survive! She needed to survive, and like a scavenger, knew the importance of survival! She also reveals the hypocrisy of religion. She never understood her religion and only uses it as a tool of vengeance. If she ever understood love, it must have died with her parent’s death.

Bolanle
The mystery girl. The puzzle that fits all yet missing. A girl who tries to run away from life’s questions yet finds herself in the middle of the greatest puzzle without knowing. She is the answer to the unasked question. We see the beauty of education over illiteracy. We see the beauty of character over selfishness; or virtues over vices. We see the need of parents understanding the emotional needs of their children. Parents befriending their children and not be terrors in the name of discipline. She won at last! She was able to find “herself” in Baba Segi’s household and also help unravel the secret in Baba Segi’s household.

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