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The Lagos Wife
Brought to you by Penguin.
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece's life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light.
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece's life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 16, 2025
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133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 25, 2025
The Lagos Wife is a beautifully written and atmospheric novel that seamlessly blends mystery, cultural commentary, and emotional depth. From the first chapter, I was drawn into the haunting story of Nicole—a Jamaican woman raised in the UK—who seemingly vanishes without a trace after building a new life in Nigeria.
This story dives deep into the complexities of identity, marriage, and motherhood, all while offering a fascinating look into Nigerian customs and the unique lives of the “Nigerwives.” I loved how Vanessa Walters weaved themes of belonging, self-discovery, and reinvention through a suspenseful plot that never lets up.
The pacing is sharp, the characters are layered, and the ending? Absolutely unexpected. The narration by Dami Olukoya and Debra Michaels brought the story to life with such emotion and clarity.
This story dives deep into the complexities of identity, marriage, and motherhood, all while offering a fascinating look into Nigerian customs and the unique lives of the “Nigerwives.” I loved how Vanessa Walters weaved themes of belonging, self-discovery, and reinvention through a suspenseful plot that never lets up.
The pacing is sharp, the characters are layered, and the ending? Absolutely unexpected. The narration by Dami Olukoya and Debra Michaels brought the story to life with such emotion and clarity.
May 19, 2025
As Americans, if we think of Africa at all, we regard it as a single country instead of a continent of 54 countries. We carve out exceptions for Northern Africa by referring to it as The Middle East or we remember apartheid in South Africa or the more recent tragedy of the 2014 kidnapping of Nigerian school girls by Boko Haram in their efforts to establish a Muslim caliphate and drive out corrupting Western influences.
Of Nigeria, specifically, we think of scammers that tricked Americans out of gullible millions of dollars.
As a Black girl in an American Catholic school the white nuns we were frequently encouraged to contribute to penny drives to raise money for white Catholic missionaries who would feed and educate naked orphaned African pagan children with bloated bellies and flies swarming about their eyes.
So the novel The Lagos Wife reveals a seldom told story of wealthy Nigerians centering around the life of Nicole, a Jamaican born with light skin and grey eyes, reared and educated in the UK. She fell in love with Tonye, a wealthy and charming Nigerian man she met at their university. They married, eventually had two sons, Timi and Tari, and at the summons of his father, The Chief, the four of them relocate from London to the family compound in Lagos Nigeria.
In contrast to her modest life in the UK with her family where she was raised by Claudine, her older sister, Lagos offers tantalizing benefits. There her family lives in their separate wing of the sprawling compound joined by other members of Tonye’s family. It is comprised of the powerful patriarch, The Chief, his wife and two younger sisters, one a single woman operating a successful business and the youngest engaged to marry into a billionaire family.
They have servants to take care of domestic chores such as child rearing and cleaning plus a chauffeur to whisk her to shopping excursions to expensive shops with Western merchandise or to events arranged by the social group called The Nigerwives. These are women from varying countries like the UK but also include Indians, Chinese, and other nationalities. The uniting element is that they are all married to wealthy Nigerian men.
Nigeria is a very patriarchal society. Males are highly valued and first born sons even more so. Women are praised for having sons. Single women and women unable to have children are of little value.
The attentive husband she had in London changed into a man preoccupied with pleasing his father and cultivating the family’s empire that he will one day inherit. Nicole grows discontent with her life when she realizes she’s not really needed as a wife or mother. There are others who fill those responsibilities. She makes the acquaintance of Kemi, an unmarried Nigerian woman who owns an art gallery, who offers her a job. Tonye is puzzled as to why she wants to work. She doesn’t lack for anything in the comfortable life she lives but grudgingly allows her work so she’ll quit whining for his attention.
Predictably, Nicole finds an attentive male with whom she engages in a clandestine romance. If their rendezvous are discovered it will bring disgrace to the family and that will not be tolerated.
Although Nicole is estranged from her sister, Claudine learns that Nicole has gone missing in Nigeria. Not satisfied that Tonye is doing enough to find his wife, Claudine decides to fly to Lagos and get to the bottom of the disappearance of Nicole.
I found this a very entertaining read.
Of Nigeria, specifically, we think of scammers that tricked Americans out of gullible millions of dollars.
As a Black girl in an American Catholic school the white nuns we were frequently encouraged to contribute to penny drives to raise money for white Catholic missionaries who would feed and educate naked orphaned African pagan children with bloated bellies and flies swarming about their eyes.
So the novel The Lagos Wife reveals a seldom told story of wealthy Nigerians centering around the life of Nicole, a Jamaican born with light skin and grey eyes, reared and educated in the UK. She fell in love with Tonye, a wealthy and charming Nigerian man she met at their university. They married, eventually had two sons, Timi and Tari, and at the summons of his father, The Chief, the four of them relocate from London to the family compound in Lagos Nigeria.
In contrast to her modest life in the UK with her family where she was raised by Claudine, her older sister, Lagos offers tantalizing benefits. There her family lives in their separate wing of the sprawling compound joined by other members of Tonye’s family. It is comprised of the powerful patriarch, The Chief, his wife and two younger sisters, one a single woman operating a successful business and the youngest engaged to marry into a billionaire family.
They have servants to take care of domestic chores such as child rearing and cleaning plus a chauffeur to whisk her to shopping excursions to expensive shops with Western merchandise or to events arranged by the social group called The Nigerwives. These are women from varying countries like the UK but also include Indians, Chinese, and other nationalities. The uniting element is that they are all married to wealthy Nigerian men.
Nigeria is a very patriarchal society. Males are highly valued and first born sons even more so. Women are praised for having sons. Single women and women unable to have children are of little value.
The attentive husband she had in London changed into a man preoccupied with pleasing his father and cultivating the family’s empire that he will one day inherit. Nicole grows discontent with her life when she realizes she’s not really needed as a wife or mother. There are others who fill those responsibilities. She makes the acquaintance of Kemi, an unmarried Nigerian woman who owns an art gallery, who offers her a job. Tonye is puzzled as to why she wants to work. She doesn’t lack for anything in the comfortable life she lives but grudgingly allows her work so she’ll quit whining for his attention.
Predictably, Nicole finds an attentive male with whom she engages in a clandestine romance. If their rendezvous are discovered it will bring disgrace to the family and that will not be tolerated.
Although Nicole is estranged from her sister, Claudine learns that Nicole has gone missing in Nigeria. Not satisfied that Tonye is doing enough to find his wife, Claudine decides to fly to Lagos and get to the bottom of the disappearance of Nicole.
I found this a very entertaining read.
November 23, 2025
Nicole Oruwari is a Nigerwife - a non-Nigerian woman marrying into a wealthy Nigerian family - and has the perfect life: a handsome, rich husband, a palatial house in the best neighbourhood in Lagos, two sons, and a glamorous group of friends. Everything appears as perfect. Until the day Nicole disappears without a trace and the investigation is being stalled by everything and everyone. It causes her aunt Claudine to fly to Nigeria to find out what happened to her niece.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
First of all: this is not a crime or thriller. At best, it is a murder mystery but generally speaking it falls more into the contemporary fiction genre under family drama. It is also a social commentary on Nigerian culture (especially on the wealthy elite in Lagos), Black Jamaican British culture, how the transatlantic slave trade affected both countries/regions, and the influence of generational trauma in women.
I cannot say how accurate the display of Nigerian culture (especially when it comes to the wealthy elite) is. The author herself is British and was a Nigerwife for a long time, so I think that her experiences colour the portrait because it is rather negative and dark. Lagos is portrayed as cold, corrupt, unsafe and crime-ridden, and all Nigerian characters have some aspect of that portray in their characters as well. While the two Jamaican British women treat the Nigerian staff often with pity or distain (dependin on the situation), which adds to the entire narrative of "Nigeria vs. Jamaican British". Tbf: all I know about Nigeria is that Boko Haram kidnap regularly Nigerian students (especially girls) to establish a Muslim caliphate and to drive out Western influences. The topic of Boko Haram is pretty much disregarded within the novel as only one of Nicole's other aunts worries about it when Claudine flies to Nigeria.
As for the Jamaican British culture: I cannot say how accurate it is either. In comparison, it is a lot more modest and influences the aspects of generational trauma on women, how the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism influenced them/Jamaica, as well as the birth place and colourism among the black community. For example, Claudine thinks often about how her parents treated the "British born" siblings always better than the children born in Jamaica. As the novel progresses, the reader learns more about the why behind the different treatment. She often thinks about her own mother's experiences (as a light-skinned black woman) in Jamaica and about her sister's status (Jackie was apparently very white passing) while Nicole is often treated as something exotic by Nigerian man with her grey eyes and the lighter skin.
The book is told from two perspectives: Her own story (leading up to the day of her disapperance) and her aunt's story (starting two weeks after the disapperance). While there is some tension in both POVs, it never gets to the point where I was utterly engaged with the book because it is not a crime novel where you are excited to find out what happened to Nicole. Mostly because Nicole is a very unlikeable character. Though Claudine is not the most likeable character either because she has quite a negative and often cynic view on things. And while the reader learns why she is how she is: it does not change much about her likeability. The pacing in both chapters (and overall for the book) is very slow until the ending gets rushed. The ending in general is one of those endings that I just hate because it feels rather pointless because of its openness.
FYI: The book was previously published as The Nigerwife.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: colourism, sexual assault on a minor, murder, drowning, loss of a sibling (off-page), drugs, death by overdose (off-page, in the past, mentioned a few times), cheating/having an affair
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
First of all: this is not a crime or thriller. At best, it is a murder mystery but generally speaking it falls more into the contemporary fiction genre under family drama. It is also a social commentary on Nigerian culture (especially on the wealthy elite in Lagos), Black Jamaican British culture, how the transatlantic slave trade affected both countries/regions, and the influence of generational trauma in women.
I cannot say how accurate the display of Nigerian culture (especially when it comes to the wealthy elite) is. The author herself is British and was a Nigerwife for a long time, so I think that her experiences colour the portrait because it is rather negative and dark. Lagos is portrayed as cold, corrupt, unsafe and crime-ridden, and all Nigerian characters have some aspect of that portray in their characters as well. While the two Jamaican British women treat the Nigerian staff often with pity or distain (dependin on the situation), which adds to the entire narrative of "Nigeria vs. Jamaican British". Tbf: all I know about Nigeria is that Boko Haram kidnap regularly Nigerian students (especially girls) to establish a Muslim caliphate and to drive out Western influences. The topic of Boko Haram is pretty much disregarded within the novel as only one of Nicole's other aunts worries about it when Claudine flies to Nigeria.
As for the Jamaican British culture: I cannot say how accurate it is either. In comparison, it is a lot more modest and influences the aspects of generational trauma on women, how the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism influenced them/Jamaica, as well as the birth place and colourism among the black community. For example, Claudine thinks often about how her parents treated the "British born" siblings always better than the children born in Jamaica. As the novel progresses, the reader learns more about the why behind the different treatment. She often thinks about her own mother's experiences (as a light-skinned black woman) in Jamaica and about her sister's status (Jackie was apparently very white passing) while Nicole is often treated as something exotic by Nigerian man with her grey eyes and the lighter skin.
The book is told from two perspectives: Her own story (leading up to the day of her disapperance) and her aunt's story (starting two weeks after the disapperance). While there is some tension in both POVs, it never gets to the point where I was utterly engaged with the book because it is not a crime novel where you are excited to find out what happened to Nicole. Mostly because Nicole is a very unlikeable character. Though Claudine is not the most likeable character either because she has quite a negative and often cynic view on things. And while the reader learns why she is how she is: it does not change much about her likeability. The pacing in both chapters (and overall for the book) is very slow until the ending gets rushed. The ending in general is one of those endings that I just hate because it feels rather pointless because of its openness.
FYI: The book was previously published as The Nigerwife.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: colourism, sexual assault on a minor, murder, drowning, loss of a sibling (off-page), drugs, death by overdose (off-page, in the past, mentioned a few times), cheating/having an affair
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
June 29, 2025
Absolutely loved this. Some really beautiful prose. Incredibly insightful observations and commentary on Lagos, black Britain and the differences in West Indian vs Nigerian cultures. Along with all this there’s some great depth of character and a vividness that brings this all to grim life.
Some small gripes are just around the sisters (both Tonye’s and also Penny) being less well rounded than basically all other characters and feeling more like fairy tale tropes. Additionally, the whole Len piece arrives very late and while doesn’t quite come out of nowhere certainly the pacing isn’t quite right.
Lastly, the plot line I thought was great and the conclusion was satisfying (if a little rushed).
Some small gripes are just around the sisters (both Tonye’s and also Penny) being less well rounded than basically all other characters and feeling more like fairy tale tropes. Additionally, the whole Len piece arrives very late and while doesn’t quite come out of nowhere certainly the pacing isn’t quite right.
Lastly, the plot line I thought was great and the conclusion was satisfying (if a little rushed).
October 27, 2025
This was a highly enjoyable mystery with multiple story lines that had me guessing until the very end. I sort of hated the ending but the journey was very fun. Read it if you want a quick, engaging read with a sprinkle of immigrant experience.
March 4, 2025
It took me a couple of chapters to get into however it did become a page turner and the ending completely shocked me! It has been left open and I’d love to know what happens next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2025
Took a while to get into it and at first the chapters were quite long and confusing but then the plot got good and I was into it. An enjoyable read
March 16, 2025
Enjoyed the pace and the setting!
April 6, 2025
3.5 interesting, enjoyed the setting and the pace. Good writing
Want to read
September 12, 2025Previously published as The Nigerwife
November 5, 2025
A bit boring.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews