Stay with Me: A novel

An Amazon Best Book of August 2017: “This book nearly destroyed me; you gotta read it.” That’s what a colleague said to me about Ayobami Adebayo’s searing debut novel, Stay with Me (and not sadistically!). Taking place in Nigeria, it’s the story of Yejide and Akin–a young married couple who are experiencing fertility issues. When the in-laws’ solution is a second wife, they conspire separately to save their relationship, with devastating consequences. I quickly gathered what my colleague meant–much of this novel is a series of unfortunate events. So much so, and sometimes to such cinematic extremes, that when Adebayo interjects humor into the narrative, it’s easily mistaken for something sinister (even when it involves breastfeeding a goat). But her gift is making these extremes make sense. After all, it’s some of our most intimate and profound struggles that can compel us to react in the craziest of ways—ways that just might destroy what was meant to be preserved. Adebayo is such a skilled storyteller that you will forgive Yejide and Akin some serious trespasses; you will weep for their once-happy union that buckles so spectacularly beneath the weight of cultural pressures–pressures that warp their sense of what constitutes a worthwhile life. The couple’s efforts to disentangle their true desires from the ones tradition and society have foisted upon them is what imbues Stay with Me with unexpected power, and heart. You definitely gotta read it. –Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review

Shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

“[A] stunning debut novel…. At once, a gothic parable about pride and betrayal; a thoroughly contemporary—and deeply moving—portrait of a marriage; and a novel, in the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie…. Adebayo, who is 29, is an exceptional storyteller. She writes not just with extraordinary grace but with genuine wisdom about love and loss and the possibility of redemption. She has written a powerfully magnetic and heartbreaking book.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“A bright, big-hearted demonstration of female spirit, as well as the damage done by the boundlessness of male pride.” —The Guardian
 
“Ayobami Adebayo’s taut, intimate debut novel, Stay with Me… careens backward and forward in time against a backdrop of politics, protests, crime and civil unrest… Close to Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies…. Conveyed with an operatic intensity that almost approaches the pitch of Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment.” —Anita Felicelli, The San Francisco Chronicle
  
“Stunning…. A work of intimate yet powerful—and even, at times, shocking—storytelling that will grow your sensitivity chip and make your world bigger, too.” —ELLE
 
“An absolute must-read and a story that will be shared for many decades to come.” —Emma Roberts, Refinery29
   
“Beautiful… Phenomenal… A layered story of love, sacrifice and hope… Adebayo’s debut is undoubtedly one of the best reads of this year.” —Lihle Z. Mtshali, Essence.com