Tomorrow I Become a Woman

Uju is a daughter her mother never wanted. When she meets Gozie in 1978, he seems like the perfect man – charismatic, Christian and Igbo – so she agrees to marry him in the hope of attaining her mother’s approval. Gozie reminds her of her beloved Uncle Ikenna, her mother’s brother who disappeared fighting in the Civil War that devastated Nigeria. But Uju has lingering feelings for Akin – a man her mother would never accept as his tribe fought on the other side of the war. Tomorrow I Become a Woman explores a complex relationship between mother and daughter, a woman’s struggle to meet societal and cultural expectations within the confines of an abusive marriage, and a love story that spans decades and continents against a backdrop of political turmoil in a fast-changing world. Uju is a woman trying to be modern in a country that wants her to be traditional. Inspired by the lives of real women – and with the theme of female friendship as a source of hope, laughter and empowerment throughout – this is a feminist novel that gently educates.