topics: |  fiction | africa | nigeria

Bride-price is the converse of dowry. Common in many African cultures, it
involves the bridegroom's family paying substantial wealth in cash or goods for
the privilege of marrying a young woman.

Born of Ibo parents in Nigeria, Buchi Emecheta is widely known for her
multi-layered stories of black women struggling to maintain their identity and
construct viable lives for themselves and their families. She writes, according
to The New York Times, with subtlety, power, and abundant compassion.

When her father dies, Aku-nna and her young brother have no one to look after
them. They are welcomed by their uncle because of Aku-nna's 'bride price' - the
money that her future husband will pay for her. In her new, strange home one
man is kind to her and teaches her to become a woman. Soon they are in love,
although everyone says he is not a suitable husband for her. The more the world
tries to separate them, the more they are drawn together - until, finally,
something has to break.