title: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
author:  Lola Shoneyin 
description: Blind acceptance splinters a polygamous marriage in Shoneyin's gripping debut set in modern-day Nigeria. Bolanle Alao, the newest and youngest of Baba Segi's wives, threatens to upset the balance of power--she is educated and beautiful, though na&iuml;ve about the relationship dynamics among the other three wives in the house. Raped at 15, Bolanle considers herself disgraced and unwanted until Baba Segi, an overweight, malodorous businessman welcomes her into his family, no questions asked, until it seems she cannot conceive. Like the other wives, she feels she has been saved by Baba Segi, who accepts all of them politely, but beyond brief mentions of his sexual encounters and visits to the toilet, Baba Segi is a peripheral character. When greedy Iya Segi and Iya Femi plot to run young, sweet Bolanle out of the family, the result is disaster. It is Bolanle's unexpected submissiveness that leads her and her husband to uncover a secret that forces him to assert his control over the family. Shoneyin masterfully disentangles four distinct stories, only to subtly expose what is common among them. <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
  Lola Shoneyin
  
  for Tinuoye and Yetunde Shoneyin
   
  …and for Olaokun
  
  Contents
  The Alao Family
  Chapter One
  Bellyache
  Chapter Two
  Polygamist
  Chapter Three
  Heavy Period
  Chapter Four
  Cracks
  Chapter Five
  Sharing
  Chapter Six
  Rat Head
  Chapter Seven
  Queen
  Chapter Eight
  Trade
  Chapter Nine
  Iya Tope
  Chapter Ten
  Rogue
  Chapter Eleven
  Iya Segi
  Chapter Twelve
  
  Theater
  Chapter Thirteen
  Iya Femi
  Chapter Fourteen
  Homeward
  Chapter Fifteen
  Night Noises
  Chapter Sixteen
  Note
  Chapter Seventeen
  Results
  Chapter Eighteen
  Seed
  Chapter Nineteen
  Baba Segi
  Chapter Twenty
  Homecoming
  Chapter Twenty-One
  Washing Day
  Chapter Twenty-Two
  Victor
  Chapter Twenty-Three
  Out
  Chapter Twenty-Four
  Taju
  Chapter Twenty-Five
  Farewell
  Chapter Twenty-Six
  Silence
  
  Chapter Twenty-Seven
  Staying Power
  Chapter Twenty-Eight
  Bolanle
  Acknowledgments
  About the Author
  Credits
  Copyright
  About the Publisher
  
  THE ALAO FAMILY
  
  CHAPTER ONE
  BELLYACHE
  WHEN BABA SEGI AWOKE with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row,