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Table of Contents
The Burden of Barrenness and the Friday of Sacrifice
The narrative begins in the village of Brenhoma, Ghana, centering on Pokuwaa, a successful and middle-aged farmer whose life is defined by a singular, aching void: her inability to bear a child. The story opens on a festive Friday (Fofie), a day of purification and sacrifice dedicated to the great god Tano. For Pokuwaa, this day represents a desperate spiritual gamble. She has prepared a sacrifice of a jet-black hen and eggs, as prescribed by the oracles, to beseech the spirits to bring her madwowa (fertility) back.
The tension of the opening chapters is focused on a seemingly minor yet symbolically massive obstacle: the black hen goes missing. Pokuwaa’s frantic search for the bird reflects her internal state she is “seized with the fear that if she failed to make the sacrifice… her fate as a barren woman would be made certain”. In her society, barrenness is the “worst that could happen to a woman,” leading to a doomed, lonely old age with no issue of one’s blood to mourn at death. During her search, she encounters a “fetish child,” a boy believed to be under the protection of a deity, and follows him into the bush. There, she discovers her black hen being swallowed by a black snake. In a moment of symbolic triumph, Pokuwaa conquers her fear, pins the snake, and rescues the bird, viewing this victory over a “bad spirit” as a positive omen for her impending battle for a child.
The Spiritual Drill and the Support of Kwadwo Fordwuo
Pokuwaa’s third husband, Kwadwo Fordwuo, is a central pillar of support. Unlike her previous two husbands, whom she divorced because they failed to produce a child together, Kwadwo is deeply invested in saving his marriage with Pokuwaa. He even risks his relationship with his first wife, who resents his devotion to a “barren woman,” to stay with Pokuwaa during her week of purification rites.
The ritual prescribed by the priest of Tano is exacting: Pokuwaa must bathe with herbal water at dawn, rub juice from specific leaves on her body, and walk home without looking back. However, the first attempt at these rites is marred by human frailty. After a long night of conversation and intimacy, Kwadwo and Pokuwaa oversleep, missing the dawn and the first day of sacrifice. Pokuwaa is devastated, feeling that “the first day of sacrifice is lost”.
Memories of Youth and the Failure of Past Marriages
As Pokuwaa waits to restart her rites, the narrative delves into her history. We learn of her first marriage to Kofi Daafo, which began with the excitement of their youth and the “Akyikyibaso” engagement bracelet. Despite their mutual love and the beauty of her outdooring ceremony where she was declared of age and ready to give birth no child came after years of marriage.
She later married Kwaku Fosu, but after three years of infertility, her mother pressured her to leave him, arguing that a woman is her mother’s only hope for grandchildren. Pokuwaa’s only experience with pregnancy occurred early in her relationship with Kwadwo; however, it ended in a miscarriage. A medicine man claimed the conception was lost because they failed to offer thanksgiving sacrifices to the fetish that supposedly gave her the child. This loss deepened her psychological trauma, leading her to feel that her nkrabea (fate) was cursed.
The Social Stigma and the Complexity of Motherhood
The novels highlight the suffocating atmosphere of a community that measures a woman’s worth solely by her fertility. Pokuwaa’s interactions with her friend Koramoa, who has a five-month-old son, are bittersweet. Koramoa frequently complains about the “trouble” the child gives her, which Pokuwaa finds difficult to reconcile with her own longing. Later, Pokuwaa meets another woman on the way to the farm who has five children and claims they “take life out of me”. This presents a stark contrast: mothers are “fed up” with their children, while Pokuwaa is “fed up and bored with life” because she has none.
Pokuwaa’s maternal instincts are often rebuffed by the community. When she tries to feed and play with a neighbor’s child, the mother, Afua Fofie, rudely drags the child away, having warned her not to visit Pokuwaa’s house. This rejection underscores the isolation Pokuwaa feels; even the children she loves seem “deserted” by their mothers’ suspicions of a childless woman.
Ritual Failures and the Turning Point
Pokuwaa eventually undergoes a second set of purification rites. When she initially sees no result, she returns to the priest, who accuses her of “looking back” during her walk home. Pokuwaa admits she turned back once for a sponge and once because she thought she heard a ghost. Determined, she performs the seven-day rite again with total concentration, focusing on the scent of pepre and white clay to purify her soul.
Despite the renewed spiritual effort, life in Brenhoma continues with its own natural and supernatural omens. A lightning strike on a Wawa tree is viewed as a bad omen, requiring a communal pacification of the seventy-seven gods of Brenhoma. A severe drought then threatens the harvest and the Odwira festival, causing widespread anxiety that the gods are angry. During the Odwira vigil, Pokuwaa finds temporary joy in the drumming and dancing, remembering a time when she was the village’s most celebrated dancer and the old chief’s favorite.
The Discovery in the Forest: Yaw Boakye
The narrative takes a dark turn when Pokuwaa discovers a decomposed human corpse in the forest near her farm. Vultures lead her to the body, which is a “terrible sight,” half-eaten and buzzing with flies. Fearing the “unending questions” and legal snares of the elders, Pokuwaa keeps the discovery a secret, though it haunts her dreams.
The village eventually organizes a search for a missing man, Yaw Boakye, and Pokuwaa lives in terror that her husband Kwadwo will be the one to find the “awful sight” at her farm. When the search party discovers the body, the village enters a state of mourning. At the funeral, Pokuwaa’s grief is so hysterical that it draws suspicion; Kwadwo even wonders if there was a secret romantic connection between her and the deceased. In reality, Pokuwaa was weeping for the “miserable end” of a human being and for the fragility of life itself.
The Rejection of the Fetish
A pivotal shift occurs in Chapter Eleven and Twelve. After visiting the Ananse stream on a sacred day (Akwasidae) and accidentally violating a taboo by taking a bird (a hornbill) that an eagle (the spirit of the stream) had killed, Pokuwaa experiences a psychological break. Her mother insists on a fresh round of purification to appease the soul.
Pokuwaa, exhausted by years of “fruitless efforts,” reaches a state of resignation. She tells Koramoa, “I am going to have peace at last… I am not going to sacrifice any more”. In a symbolic act of liberation, she and Koramoa go into the bush at night, where Pokuwaa smashes her pot of herbs against a rock, mirroring the funeral rite where widows break their pots to signal the end of a marriage. She returns home and burns her talismans in the fire, deciding to “give up sacrifices” and trust in a higher force rather than constant ritual appeasement.
The “Gift of God”: Pregnancy and Fulfillment
The final chapters reveal the irony of Pokuwaa’s situation. Once she finds “new-found calm” and stops the frantic pursuit of fertility, her body begins to change. She notices her breasts are heavier and her navel has darkened, but she initially dismisses these as signs of aging. However, after three months without her period, she returns to the Ananse stream alone to confirm her suspicions. Looking at her reflection in the water, she sees the physical markers of pregnancy and realizes, “O Twedeampong, I am pregnant”.
A final omen occurs as she walks home: a bird perches on her water pot to drink. In Brenhoma, this is celebrated in song as a sign of love and divine favor. When her mother and Koramoa see her bare breasts, the truth is undeniable. Her mother, initially shocked and skeptical, eventually breaks into prayers of gratitude to Tano, though Pokuwaa remains firm in her belief that this mercy came from Nyankopon (the Almighty God) directly.
Kwadwo’s reaction is one of profound emotion; he weeps like a little boy when he confirms the news. The book concludes with the couple planning for the future. Kwadwo declares that if it is a girl, she will be named Adwoa Menenkyem, but Pokuwaa suggests the name Adwoa Nyamekye, meaning “The Gift of God”. The narrative ends on a note of total fulfillment, as Pokuwaa achieves happiness and motherhood on her own terms, moving from a life of superstitious anxiety to one of peaceful grace.