Son of the house

A kidnapping incident unites two women, as the threads of their lives unravel after each tells the other her story to pass the time and kill the burning fear within them. Painful details for two women living in a male-dominated society that sees the birth of a male child as an extension of the tribe, while seeing the female only as a means to ensure comfort and reproduction. Nwabulo endures hardships to prove her worthiness of life; her tribe considers her a bad omen because her mother died during her birth, so she works as a maid for her stepmother, then as a servant in others' homes, facing all kinds of circumstances and resisting all that in pursuit of her childhood dreams of survival. Will she survive? And will she find in Joli the thread of hope that restores what was taken from her—her son Afam? Joli sells her freedom for a comfortable life by marrying a wealthy man, fulfilling the condition of a happy life in Nigeria, as there is no happiness for a woman without a man, nor for a man without children, following the customary tribal traditions prevalent in the land of the Ibo. Her series of sacrifices continues with deception, for what is the use of shame in a world where courage gives you everything? The novel leaves its reader at an exciting, intimate, open-ended conclusion, imagining the survival of the two women, their reunion with their families, and the revelation of a secret that has lasted over thirty years, surrounded by intertwined questions about the meaning of life, family bonds, interests, and the threads connecting women and men—making society more tangled and complex.