Uduak E. Akpabio Perfect Mother

Annotation

Set in present-day Nigeria, Perfect Mother focuses on a turbulent week in the lives of a moneyed middle-class Lagos family. Ani Umoh, a successful businessman, lives happily with wife Celia and their three young daughters. The only thing missing from their lives is a son; and Anis mother, visiting from the village, stirs discord by agitating for Celia to provide an heir or step aside so that Ani can take a second wife. Celia is more than a match for her mother-in-law. But an unexpected revelation drives Celia to desperate measures in order to restore harmony to her household . . . with tragic consequences. Compelling and humorous, Perfect Mother is a richly emotional portrait of family life in modern Nigeria: where the city dwellers, though prosperous, cannot escape the traditional values and superstitions of the village . . .