In this, a ground-breaking publication in the canon of non-Western women's literary history, Paulina Chiziani - the first woman from Mozambique ever to publish a novel - lifts the lid on her country's values and its hypocracies. After 20 years of marriage, Rami discovers that her husband has been living a double - or rather, a quintuple - life. After Tony is forced to marry the four other women - as well as an additional lover - according to polygamist custom, the rival lovers join together to declare their voices and demand their rights.