Reese Witherspoon’s latest pick for her popular book club is Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife.
Witherspoon made the announcement on Instagram, writing, “Reading takes us all over the world, and this month we are traveling to modern-day Ghana with our October book pick … This book centers around young marriage, social pressure, and breaking all the rules.”
Medie’s novel follows a Ghanaian woman whose mother has talked her into marrying a successful businessman. A reviewer for Kirkus called the book “delightful” and “a Crazy Rich Asians for West Africa, with a healthy splash of feminism.”
Medie, a lecturer at the University of Bristol in England, is the author of a nonfiction book, Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa, which was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press.
In an interview with PEN America, Medie said that she wanted to write a novel about “women who resist cultural norms.”
“I decided to write about ‘disrespectful’ women,” she said. “I think such narratives are important because hopefully, they will help to normalize women who resist ideas and practices that are harmful to them or put them at a disadvantage.”
Witherspoon started her book club in June 2017. Her previous selections have included Ruth Ware’s The Lying Game, Heather Harpham’s Happiness, and Josie Silver’s One Day in December.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
