Publishers Weekly
06/12/2023
Medie (His Only Wife) focuses on the complex relationship between two Ghanaian women in this poignant outing. Akorfa and her cousin Selasi were best friends as children, but a rift develops after they begin boarding school, where Akorfa benefits from her family’s support, including private tutors. Eventually, she leaves for the University of Pittsburgh, where she experiences various episodes of racism, beginning when her roommate’s parents automatically assume she’s there on a scholarship. After graduation, she lands a job at an NGO in Washington, D.C., marries a cardiologist, and has children. The second part tells Selasi’s story, detailing her struggles after her mother died and her father abandoned her. When she is sent to live with Akorfa’s family, Akorfa’s mother treats Selasi like a servant and Akorfa turns a blind eye. After boarding school, Selasi becomes a successful restaurateur in Ghana and marries a politician. Medie unfurls major revelations in the third part, when Selasi and Akorfa reunite in Ghana and learn they were each similarly traumatized as children, prompting them to reexamine their long-held bitterness toward each other. Though there’s a bit too much exposition, Medie keenly explores the nuances of the women’s friendship and their misplaced blame. This is worth a look. Agent: Kiele Raymond, Thompson Literary Agency. (June)
From the Publisher
Evocative . . . [Medie] immerse[s] the reader in the details of these two otherwise ordinary lives . . . The shifts in perspective—from Akorfa’s to Selasi’s to a short final section narrated in the third person—add tension and dramatic irony.”—New York Times Book Review
“Nightbloom is a book about secrets; not just the ones passed between sister-cousins giggling in the dark, but the kinds our families require us to keep, the ones that reshape the landscape of who we become. In this stunning novel, Akorfa and Selasi share common wounds inflicted by the same adults who have vowed to care for them, but those wounds wield drastically different results in each woman. In these pages, Medie has achieved a symphonic feat, weaving a delicate narrative of multivocal familial history, where sameness and difference, sisterhood and division, salve and destruction walk hand in hand on a journey that feels both achingly familiar in its scope, yet fresh and utterly new in its telling.”—Destiny O. Birdsong, author of Nobody’s Magic
“Peace Adzo Medie is the doyenne of the emotional plot twist. Just when you're sure you've figured it out, she reminds you there are two sides to every story. A book to read and then find someone to discuss it with.”—Chibundu Onuzo, author of Sankofa
“Medie focuses on the complex relationship between two Ghanaian women in this poignant outing… [and] keenly explores the nuances of the women’s friendship and their misplaced blame. This is worth a look.”—Publishers Weekly
“Medie’s first novel, His Only Wife, was a knockout and her sophomore venture doesn’t disappoint. Focused on friendship, secrets, courage and truth, Nightbloom addresses complex issues with nuance, candor and tenderness.”—Ms. Magazine
“A powerful portrayal of class, family, and female bonds in Ghana and the US.”—SheReads
"A blistering story, written with razor sharp precision and characters who feel so real, it's like they're watching you all the while you're reading. I loved the themes of family, miscommunication and how there are two sides, if not maybe more, to every story."—Huma Qureshi, author of Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love
"Masterfully explores the complicated relationship between two childhood friends. I love the way it combines geographic range with deep intimacy. I highly recommend it." —Ayesha Harruna Attah, author of The Hundred Wells of Salaga
"Everyday heartbreaks and mercies are laid bare in Peace Adzo Medie’s poignant, candid, and heartfelt Nightbloom."—Sefi Atta, author of The Bad Immigrant
"Peace Adzo Medie returns with a formidable exploration of friendship and the intricacies of the relationships that shape us. Told by two bright voices, Nightbloom is a journey that spans years and explores a different truths along a parallel journey. Touching, bold and thought-provoking, this story is one everyone should read.”—Onyi Nwabineli, author of Someday, Maybe
"Medie's remarkable skills are on display here. She explores weighty themes with a deftness of touch, and there is a vitality to her writing that makes us believe she's a credible witness to the lives her characters live."—Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street
“[A] bold exploration of a friendship gone awry.”—GMA.com
“A captivating novel that delves into the complexities of female relationships and the societal challenges that seek to suppress women's voices.”—The Messenger
“Thought-provoking and beautifully told.”—Booklist
“A hilarious and heartbreaking dual narrative from the perspectives of two cousins who have differing memories of their upbringing.”—Richland Library
Named a Most Anticipated Book of Spring/Summer 2023 by ELLE, Essence, and SheReads
author of On Black Sisters Street Chika Unigwe
Medie's remarkable skills are on display here. She explores weighty themes with a deftness of touch, and there is a vitality to her writing that makes us believe she's a credible witness to the lives her characters live.
author of Sankofa Chibundu Onuzo
Peace Adzo Medie is the doyenne of the emotional plot twist. Just when you're sure you've figured it out, she reminds you there are two sides to every story. A book to read and then find someone to discuss it with.
Onyi Nwabineli
Peace Adzo Medie returns with a formidable exploration of friendship and the intricacies of the relationships that shape us. Told by two bright voices, Nightbloom is a journey that spans years and explores a different truths along a parallel journey. Touching, bold and thought-provoking, this story is one everyone should read.
author of Nobody’s Magic Destiny O. Birdsong
“Nightbloom is a book about secrets; not just the ones passed between sister-cousins giggling in the dark, but the kinds our families require us to keep, the ones that reshape the landscape of who we become. In this stunning novel, Akorfa and Selasi share common wounds inflicted by the same adults who have vowed to care for them, but those wounds wield drastically different results in each woman. In these pages, Medie has achieved a symphonic feat, weaving a delicate narrative of multivocal familial history, where sameness and difference, sisterhood and division, salve and destruction walk hand in hand on a journey that feels both achingly familiar in its scope, yet fresh and utterly new in its telling.
FEBRUARY 2024 - AudioFile
This complicated story of friendship, migration, and loss is told by Jessica Sarkodie, Ekua Ekumah, and Sarah Dorgbadzi. They create a delightful listening experience with lilting rhythms of slightly accented English. The trio display the variety of personalities in Ghanaian women as depicted in this tale of Selasi and Akorfa. As children, the two girls are best friends, growing up in Ghana. But as circumstances take one overseas for education and the other is left behind, rifts form in their tight bond. The story is first told from Akorfa's perspective; then it's Selasi's turn to recount the same events. When they reunite, the ending is a lovely payoff. M.R. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-28
When a childhood friendship sours, two young Ghanaian women are filled with confusion and spite.
Cousins Akorfa and Selasi were inseparable as children, and the friendship between their mothers guaranteed they spent lots of time together. But according to Akorfa, who tells the first half of the story, her mother always knew “that my cousin would grow up to break all that she touched, even the people who loved her.” Akorfa’s family has more money, and Akorfa is a better student than Selasi; this puts the friends on an unequal basis from the start, and Akorfa’s mean-spirited mother makes sure no one forgets it. Then Selasi’s mother dies in childbirth when the girls are 11. Her father sends her to live with her grandmother and moves on to start a new family; not long after, Akorfa’s family moves to Accra. By the time Selasi comes to visit, things have changed between them. Akorfa goes to college in the U.S., then moves there permanently. She’s married, in her 30s, and returning home for her father’s memorial when she next sees Selasi, who is ice cold. “I turned to my mother. ‘What did we do to her? I want to know. What have we done to Selasi?’ ” The next half of the book answers that question by starting the whole story over from Selasi’s point of view—not the wisest narrative choice—and following her into adulthood. A brief final section is told in third person. Following the success of His Only Wife (2020), Medie seems to have bitten off more than she can chew, with themes of sexual predation, Black life in the U.S., and Ghanaian political corruption elbowing their ways into what is already an ungainly structure for the story of a broken friendship. The resolution feels forced, with a deus ex machina introduced to inspire Akorfa and Selasi to reveal the secrets that have warped their lives.
This sophomore effort is likely to disappoint fans of Medie’s fine debut.
