Join Black Women Connect for our June Book Club as we come together to discuss The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin.
Join us for our June Book Club gathering as we dive into The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, a bold, funny, sharp, and deeply layered novel about marriage, power, secrecy, womanhood, survival, and what happens when one woman’s arrival threatens to expose everything.
We are excited to continue gathering in person, with a hybrid option available for those joining online. We will be meeting in downtown Toronto at King and Peter Street, and we look forward to another evening of honest conversation, laughter, reflection, and community.
About the Book
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives follows Baba Segi, a wealthy Nigerian patriarch with four wives and seven children. His household appears successful, full, and firmly under his control, until his newest wife, Bolanle, arrives.
Bolanle is young, educated, and different from the other wives. Her presence unsettles the household and stirs jealousy, suspicion, and conflict. But as tensions rise, long-hidden secrets begin to surface, threatening the image of family, power, and respectability that Baba Segi has built around himself.
Lola Shoneyin tells this story with wit, bite, and emotional depth, giving voice to the women inside the household and revealing the private bargains they have made to survive. The novel explores patriarchy, infertility, shame, rivalry, desire, silence, and the ways women protect themselves in systems that often give them very little room to breathe.
This is the kind of book that will give us a rich conversation. It is dramatic, funny, painful, provocative, and full of characters whose choices will spark debate.
What to Expect
During our discussion, we will explore:
The lives, secrets, and survival strategies of Baba Segi’s wives
Bolanle’s role as the outsider who disrupts the household
Marriage, patriarchy, fertility, and respectability
The pressure placed on women to bear children and preserve family honour
How women navigate power when the system is stacked against them
The tension between rivalry, sisterhood, jealousy, and shared vulnerability
Lola Shoneyin’s use of humour, satire, and multiple voices
Why You Should Join
The Black Women Connect Book Club is a welcoming community designed for thoughtful dialogue, shared learning, and collective reflection. This month’s novel gives us an opportunity to unpack themes that speak directly to many of our lived realities as Black women, including identity, marriage, womanhood, survival, silence, respectability, vulnerability, and the search for agency in spaces shaped by power and tradition.
How to Participate
• Read the Book: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin
• RSVP: Register to receive the event details and Zoom link if joining online
• Join the Conversation: Bring your insights, reflections, questions, and honest reactions
Who Should Join?
Anyone who identifies as a Black woman is welcome, whether you have been with us for years or this will be your very first meeting.
If you enjoy bold contemporary African fiction, complicated family stories, sharp social commentary, layered women characters, and books that raise uncomfortable questions about power, gender, secrecy, and survival, this discussion is for you.
Come ready to talk, listen, laugh, disagree, reflect, and reconnect. We are so glad to be gathering in person again, and we look forward to seeing you there.
How to Prepare
📖 Read the Book: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin
💭 Reflect: Think about the characters, moments, and themes that stayed with you
☕ Get Comfortable: Bring your favourite drink and settle in for a rich discussion
What You’ll Receive
✅ Zoom link to join the discussion or in-person address
✅ A discussion guide with thoughtful prompts
✅ Access to our private Facebook group for continued conversation
✅ Connection with a community of Black women who love books and dialogue
About Black Women Connect Book Club
The Black Women Connect Book Club is a monthly gathering that brings Black women together through fiction and nonfiction by writers of African descent. We read, reflect, connect, and build community through the power of storytelling. It’s more than a book club. It’s connection, conversation, and sisterhood.
Bookings
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