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During a Dry Season

During a Dry Season weaves the sights and sounds of Nigeria into a complicated story of a poor Brooklyn girl’s life in her wealthy husband’s country. When her troublesome mother-in-law arrives on the first winds of the dry season, Garnett Adewale’s hopes for happiness are blown away. In a culture that demands respect for elders, she is powerless against the old woman, who disapproves of her, because she is an American with a womb that is “as barren as a brick.” At 260 pounds and blindly in love, Garnett tolerates rejection and her philandering husband, until her mother-in-law goads her into telling a desperate lie. The events that follow soon bring this story of love, betrayal, corruption, and cultural conflict to a violent end.

Readers of During a Dry Season have said that the novel was thought provoking. How do you cope with betrayal after giving up everything for love? What value does a wife have when she cannot have children? How is life in West Africa? Find the answers to these questions and many more in During a Dry Season.

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This story is inspired by many people I knew in Nigeria. It is honest with one voice speaking for many women. During a Dry Season is entertaining, and it will prod readers to think about the true nature of love and its limits, the deceits we entertain when the truth is too painful, and what we are capable of when our backs are to the wall--Portia Tewogbade

Tewogbade provides a rare window into how women live in a society where they're considered the property of

their husbands. It's refreshing to see even a fictional story of an African-American woman's experience in Africa;

A novel that offers an original, compelling facet of the African-American femae experience--Kirkus Review

My Upcoming Book: Red Midnight

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Red Midnight is historical fiction that follows an African-American family for 50 years, beginning with the 1906 Atlanta race riot and ending with the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Expected publication date: first quarter of 2015.