Married to a Stranger

About the book Married to a Stranger

Married to a Stranger is a novella that provides a window into middle class African life in Nigeria. Its central characters, Ephrem and Ugo, are seemingly happy and fulfilled. Their marriage and friendship is respected and emulated by all who know them. The fast-paced narrative is their story of love and hopeful dreams. From their relationship, their love and care for each other readers learn about the ingredients of a happy and successful marriage. Although this near perfect marriage is shown to be a sham, deeply betrayed by the existence of Ephrem’s other family, the ingredients of an ideal marriage demonstrated throughout the narrative continue to resonate, even after the betrayal. Without the betrayal, theirs could have been an ideal marriage where both husband and wife care for each other and are cared for by a network of friends and relatives in Africa and abroad. What is painful to both Ugo and the reader is that this captivating and riveting narrative of love is built on Ephrem’s lie and Ugo’s ignorance of that lie. Ephrem’s demonstrations of love turn out to be well thought out cover-up mechanisms. His generous love and gifts provide a thick cover for his illicit relationships.

 Additionally, the novella also mirrors the soul of the Nigerian people, their spirituality, market rituals and favorite foods, traditions of generosity, hopes, and aspirations. It gives us a slice of a Nigerian community in motion, a life that is both fluid and dynamic. The story also hints on the colonial mindset that pervades the educated and affluent in Africa. America and the West are what they ultimately aspire for. The number of visits to the US and the number of children born there elevate one’s status in that community. However the novel hints that the American environment has a darker side. It has power to corrupt the younger lives, like Mike, who are thrown into its midst without proper guidance and socialization.

 The distinct elements of this novella are its realism and compelling style. It reads fast and well. It gives concrete form to a people’s hopes and dreams and brings concepts of love, caring, and responsibility to levels of human possibility. This book establishes Dr. Uche Ugwueze as an outstanding writer, grounded in African traditions of love and relationships and endowed with brilliant writing skills. This celebration affirms her status in the circle of African and world writers. She has washed her hands and can now eat with the elders.

                          Review written by Dr. Munashe Furusa

About the book   African Culture, Identity and Aesthetics: The Igbo Example

African Culture, Identity, and Aesthetics: The Igbo Example, is a revolutionary tale in finding meaningful pathways to the upheaval damaging the African world. The author is disturbed by the evident fracturing and destruction of indigenous cultures. Pleading for an inspiration from traditional community values which have historically well-served both the individual and the community-at-large, she successfully educates the reader in the values of traditional Igbo society.  The book also fulfills  the need in Africana Studies for greater understanding of African culture as the foundation of African centered thought and practice. It  provides an essential framework to the serious revaluation of the intellectual philosophy/construct of Africana Studies on the basis of African knowledge systems. 

Tears Without Cry Uche Ugwueze, Lecturer, Black Studies Newly out from New York-based Triumph Publishing, Ugwueze's novel of a woman trapped in an abusive marriage is the successor to her first two books, Wet in the Sun and The Blunt Blade. The 113-page novel examines Ebelle, a contemporary woman of achievement living in Nigeria. Barely out of college and in spite of suspicion and discouragement from family and friends, Ebelle marries Dan and begins a family, only to discover the relationship unraveling into an excruciating haunting odyssey. When she breaks away from Dan to find a peace of mind, she finds herself paying a high price. The author describes the title as a grief so deep, the victim cries without tears. "Cry tells the story of a contemporary African woman as a way of examining universal issues that women deal with all over the world," she said. Ebelle is typical of many women who suffer domestic violence. The author believes that "Images that writers produce about women carry values and these values contribute to social attitudes toward women everywhere. What I want to write about are women like Ebelle with the strength and courage to break the shackles of female subjugation. I want to offer women an example of what can be done in the struggle to be free. I want to offer women proposals for liberation. I hope that, when women read this book, it affects their notions of life and selfhood." Cry also includes a glossary of Igbo terms such as ogbanje, a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn, and anu nchi, a dry meat from wild game. Ugwueze, who joined the university in 2003, earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Nigeria as well as her doctorate in 2005.