"In this stunning debut novel, Esi, a feisty Nigerian-Ghanaian girl growing up amid political upheaval in postcolonial Ghana, begins to question the hypocrisy of the patriarchal society that surrounds her, and the restrictions and unrealistic expectations placed on women"-- Provided by publisher.
Late 1960s, Ghana. Young Esi Agyekum is as tight-lipped about her father's adultery as she is about her half-sisters' sex lives. After she is humiliated and punished for her own sexual exploration, Esi begins to question why women's secrets and men's secrets bear different consequences. As she navigates her burgeoning womanhood, Esi tries to reconcile her own ideals and dreams with her family's complicated past and troubled present, and fights to carve out her own identity against their society's double standards. -- adapted from jacket