AWS Classics The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

A powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy and women's changing roles in urban Nigeria. A scorching portrayal of a woman's life . . . the female, feminist counterpart to Things Fall Apart' Bernardine Evaristo. 'God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody's appendage? ... when will I be free?

'There is no greater honour for a woman in an Ibo village than to have children - especially sons. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu Ego is sent away to a new husband in the city of Lagos, where she finally succeeds in becoming a mother.

But things are changing, and a war that unfolds thousands of miles away threatens her family's fortunes and her entire way of life. In a world where motherhood is everything, what will be left for her at the end of it all?'Sparkling intelligence and a certain kind of honest, lived, intimate insight into working-class colonial Nigeria' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie