House Woman

by Adorah Nworah

My name is Ifemefuna Nwosu, and I am your wife.

One day in Lagos, young dancer Ikemefuna is put on a plane to Houston to meet her new husband, Nna. Promises are made to her – about her education, about the man she will marry, about her freedom.

None of them are kept.

A few months later, self-professed feminist Nna finds a beautiful woman cooking in his parents’ kitchen. They tell him Ikemefuna is his wife, there to give them the grandson they’ve been waiting for. She appears obedient, malleable.

But she is no ordinary wife.

In the Texas heat, patience runs on short supply and the atmosphere in the house becomes increasingly strained, increasingly violent. Desperation makes people do strange things…

Unpredictable and unsettling, HOUSE WOMAN is a delicious thriller you will never be able to forget.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Horror, Mystery, Adult, Fiction, Contemporary

300 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um, that was... confusing? unexpected? disjointed?

The blurb doesn't give a good sense of where this book goes, and it didn't really take me, as a reader, along with it. We start off in a book about an unexpectedly arranged marriage... and end up somewhere crazy. The tone is unstable as horrific things happen but they're almost written like a black comedy.

Sorry, didn't gel with this one at all.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley

[pae (marginhermit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOLY FRICKIN HELL.

A naive woman got tricked to flew 7000 km just to be tricked, beaten, abused verbally, physically and mentally, and forced to get pregnant. Ikemefuna thought new life would be an American Dreams with Nna, but her hopes was gone with Agbala and Eke, her in laws.

Soon she found herself trapped in the house, hence making her the House Woman; can’t go out, phone was seized and she’s merely a birthing machine. Nna was truly the golden boy but her in laws and her own parents to the point they loved him more. Can she still go back? Does she even still has home?

This story was told in such direct ways that makes you fell queasy, uneasy and upset at the same time. I went from huh to wtf to what on earth because the plot twist is just 😮‍💨😮‍💨

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book answers the age old question, can putrid smelling genitals be a character trait? Yes! Glad the author made sure to note this over half a dozen times throughout

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a gifted copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Insta Book Tours.

House Woman is one crazy ride of a read from start to finish. We follow Ikemefuna and her newly arranged marriage to Nna. Ikemefuna has traveled from Lagos to Texas in the hopes of loving the American dream and is eager to please her new husband and his family. But what she hoped would be a dream turns into a nightmare as she is abused, locked inside, cut off from the outside world and being forced to become pregnant.
This book wasn't an easy read and I thought it would be different than it was from the blurb. It is a shocking read that opens your eyes and I'd advise to please read trigger warnings before reading it. It also turned my stomach in places to the point I felt really sick reading it - IYKYK. The story throws a few curve balls at you making your head spin and navigates between both the viewpoint of Ikemefuna and Nna.

[Christina Rosso · Rating 4 out of 5]

House Woman is a heartbreaking, unforgettable story about one woman's tenacity to survive violence and oppression. Adorah Nworah has created a complex cast of characters, with a fierce heroine you root for from the very first page. I recommend this book to fans of slow-burn thrillers and strong female leads. You will be on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

[Passion Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

An arranged marriage between two families. One family eventually moving from Lagos to Texas. The son, who is to become the husband isn’t aware that this woman in his parents house is actually his wife.

Things get heated, he has some issues for sure and everything that could go wrong goes wrong - literally. Then the arranged wife notices something particular about the husband. They discuss it, fight about it and eventually come to the conclusion that lies are being told.

The secrets y’all. I mean damn. There’s a secret on every corner in this book. Things you can’t guess. Secrets that make you want to side eye any and everything about a person that you’re interested in dating or marrying.

This is a thriller so death was apparent but it was definitely not who I’d expected. All of this made this book a PAGE TURNER.

I’m glad I read this one! Thanks to CocoaChapters and the author for the advanced copy!

Arranged Marriage gone completely wrong, well before these two were of age.

Honestly, they made a deal with the devil himself.

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy. Implausible. A wild ride. Inventive. Drama for drama’s sake. Plain prose. Cautionary. An arranged marriage sits at the center of this jumbled novel, which for this reader misses the mark. Nna is the young man who is informed by the woman standing in his mother’s kitchen in Houston TX that she is his wife. OkAaay, well that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and Nna quickly dismisses the idea as “bat shit crazy”, and readers will surely agree that assessment covers the entire novel. Ikemefuna is the promised wife and her character is shallowly drawn, and so readers will default to “crazy” as her main character trait. That is a too easy conclusion and the clichéd trap door. Ikemefuna is unquestionably troubled, but not without reason. When she studies her husband face and reminisces upon her mother’s look, she notices the uncanny resemblance. Here, the mystery and intrigue is lit, but a full fire is never developed and the potential for a great novel is reduced to below average. The outrageous initial arrangement agreement details the entire book. Nna’s mother worships a female deity Ala, to whom she often turns to for life answers. Maybe Adorah Nworah wanted to skewer the entire idea of arranging marriages in today’s world, but I think she falls short and by injecting the strange spirituality of the mother she ventures into Nigeria stereotypes of fanatical religious zealots. And what’s up with the funky penis? Weird. Potentially I think she has the gruff to be a good storyteller, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until her next novel to see if she fulfills that potential.

[Justine S · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Delicious thriller’? The way this book is being marketed doesn’t really prepare the reader for the absolute horror of this story. This is no run of the mill domestic suspense. It’s more of a social horror and given the very real issue of human trafficking and women’s lack of bodily autonomy in so many parts of the world, I found this to be a very hard but relevant read.

[Isabella (BlessedByBella) · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first 5⭐️ of the year.

This definitely won’t be most people’s cup of tea but it was mine and I can’t wait for this book to find its perfect audience.

Ikemefuna leaves Lagos, Nigeria to join her future in laws in Houston for the first time. She is promised a wonderful husband and a 2-week stay in America to get to know the family. Instead she is greeted by constant abuse, hardship, and a forced pregnancy as she fights for her life.

The synopsis definitelyyyy will not prepare you for this book. House Woman is a sick novel about the darkness of pagan worship, abuse, and the cries of the unheard. I felt physically uncomfortable, upset, and intrigued while reading.

I would recommend this to fans of Sharp Objects even though I disliked that book… They are both similar in terms of grossness so if you can handle that, you can handle this.

Lots of trigger warnings for rape, domestic abuse, physical abuse, and racism.

Idk, Igbo authors just always do it for me. Great debut, can’t wait to read more from Adorah Nworah.


Update:
It’s the next day and I still can’t stop thinking about this novel like I’m ready to cry

[Kara (Books.and.salt) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yaaaallllll I loved this book on so many freaking levels. This was, in many ways, not at all what I expected at all. I went into this expecting a run of the mill domestic thriller but instead was met with an extremely claustrophobic and genre bending thriller/horror.

I am a giant nerd for any sort of mythology, and the West African lore that gets tied into this story is AWESOME. A big ball of dread settled in my stomach around page 3 and did not relent until the very last page - I was so scared for Ikemefuna the entire time!!

This novel was all around delicious. (Well, except for the cheese dick. Those scenes made me viscerally uncomfortable and were explicitly UNdelicious. But that's not a complaint by any means.)

[autumnal_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just shocking, the way this author has written this book made me keep turning page after page.

At first I was a little confused but after a while everything made sense.

The smell - the smell she kept mentioning - just Ew, honestly made me gag every time.

Overall , a shocking read. Highly recommend

[Phyllis | Mocha Drop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Too much for me: Entirely too much drama-for-drama’s sake; overly descriptive/embellishment of trivial things, over the top plot twists, mediocre writing/storytelling, etc.

The plot is largely that of a native Nigerian woman trying to escape an abusive, arranged marriage in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. She is isolated from her family and held hostage by her overbearing husband and in-laws. They are despicable people with no redeeming qualities - she is treated horribly and abused on multiple levels: verbally, mentally, and physically. We’re to pull for her well-being – largely on general principle because honestly, I found it hard to care about the protagonist because the writing and character development was very weak. Admittedly, I sped-read and skimmed through a few sections just to get through to the end.

I suppose many will find this tale intriguing or compelling in that it is about a woman who eventually overcomes oppression and reclaims her agency; but for me this was a disappointing debut. I wish the author continued success.

Thanks to The Unnamed Press and Edelweiss for the opportunity to review.

[Em H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh.

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I liked but didn't love it. It feels a bit too repetitive for its page length, and by the third mention of the dude's smelly genitals I was like okay let's move on.

That said, it kept me reading and I was interested to see where it would end up, though I was not thrilled by the ending.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not for me and it’s best I leave it at that.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon returning to his family home in America one day, Nna Nwosu finds a strange young woman in his mother's kitchen. Ikemefuna Azubuike has travelled from Lagos, Nigeria to 'audition' basically to be his wife. Nna is taken with Ikemefuna at first but when she starts to tell him things about his parents he doesn't want to hear, their relationship falters. Ikemefuna thought that she would be in America for only two weeks but as soon as she arrived, the Nwosus took away her passport & have kept her locked up for weeks, unable to even go outside. She hopes to persuade the recently arrived home Nna, a self-professed feminist, to take her back to Lagos, but who is he really?

This was a difficult one to read because of some of the subject matter. The reader hears from both Nna & Ikemefuna with their differing takes on what is happening. The sheer horror of expecting your trip to be a two week vacation & it turning into your imprisonment is conveyed but I would have liked to have heard from Ikemefuna a bit more - her side of things is rather vague for the most part. There were several moments when she sort of zones out & then 'wakes up' to find herself committing violent acts but the reader isn't really given any insight into what is happening here. The ending is also rather abrupt & open-ended but you feel that the luckless Ikemefuna is unlikely to have a Happy Ever After. Overall, I found the disparity of what is expected from women as opposed to men was laid out clearly but there are other aspects which could have been expanded on more. It did leave me feeling unsettled.

There's a lot of trigger warnings for this one: domestic abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping, imprisonment, violence, death.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, HarperCollins UK/The Borough Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

[Hope Hynson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was absolutely infuriating, sickening, grotesque, horrifying, and wildly engrossing all at the same time. “House Woman” by Adorah Nworah follows Ikemefuna Azubuike as she’s transplanted from Lagos, Nigeria to Sugar Land, Texas to marry into a Nigerian family that reached an admirable level of success after emigrating to the US. The American Dream often promised to those looking at the US as a beacon of opportunity falls flat as Ikemefuna experiences firsthand some of the most intimate and shudder-inducing horrors that America can foster.

Throughout the novel, I felt trapped. The circumstances that Ikemefuna is placed in and forced to deal with were beyond manipulative and evil. As she made pleas to the universe and her abusers for her freedom, I longed for it right with her. Arranged marriages are not an entirely uncommon occurrence, but this novel digs into what exactly they can mean for girls and women with no real advocates or anyone to stand up for them and help them find and use their voice.

I can’t honestly say that I ‘liked’ this book, because it’s topics and specifics were very tough to digest and hopelessness soaked almost every page; however, I can and will enthusiastically say that I enjoyed Nworah’s writing style and the execution of this horrific and convoluted tale. 4.25 stars.

[Hannah Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will absolutely not be for everyone but I really enjoyed it ♥️

[April Garriock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women aren’t baby machines people! Nna and his parents got what they deserved in my opinion. I know what happens in this book is a sad reality for some women in this world, and for that I’m so sorry.

[JaVone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummmmm...sooooooo...I definitely was expecting that. This was different. Very odd but even more odd that I enjoyed it.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed some time to sit with this after I finished it.

I would classify this as a literary psychological thriller. The writing style adds to the eeriness and the claustrophobic vibes of this book.

In the beginning I was a bit thrown off and confused because you are essentially just kind of thrown into the plot with this weird family and an arranged marriage. But as I continued to read I found myself become absorbed with the plot and my heart was constantly racing for Ikemefuna. I felt her fear and her adrenaline laced desperation on every page.

I do believe before reading this you should do some research on Nigerian culture and social norms, otherwise certain things might seem implausible to you. I myself am not Nigerian, but I have read and loved so much Nigerian literature (absolutely top tier) that I understood a lot of the reasons why things were able to happen the way they did in this book.

I'm pretty picky about my thrillers; I don't like when they are mostly straightforward. Give me the confusion that completely pays off by the end. I'll eat it up everytime. Adorah Nworah managed to pull this off beautifully.

The only reason this was not a full five star for me was just because I wanted a bit more closure when it came the ending. I can understand why the author ended it the way she did though.

Eagerly awaiting more work from Adorah Nworah!

[TEMI · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh this was CRAZYYYYYY. first though, this author has a veryyyyyy nice and impressive style of writing. i usually dont like multiperspective books, but it's something about Nworah's flow between different perspectives and topics that made this a very interesting read 100% of the time. she also has this way off using so many seemingly out-of-scope things to talk about one specific thing without it being corny or confusing or distracting. very eager to read another one of her books

i also thought the suspense and pacing were perfect in this. i can't believe i just sat and read half of it in one sitting (not common for me). none of the major reveals felt predictable or like lazy copouts which is a common issue i find in thrillerish media. wowowowowow

back on the multiperspective thing, I can't believe she made the perspectives of seemingly irrelevant characters entertaining and valueable to the story??? she did some shit here that people usually only do in tv/movies

[Shelah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nnaemeka- a self proclaimed feminist- visits his parents' house in Houston only to discover a beautiful woman- Ikemefuna- in the kitchen. He's immediately taken by her beauty and really didn't mind when she discovered she was his new wife, an arranged marriage didn't sound so bad if this was the beauty his parents picked for him.
Ikemefuna wants to go home, taken to a foreign country, barricaded in a house and her passport taken from her wasn't what she was promised when coming to Houston. The husband they promised her repulsed her so much especially when his penis smelt like rotten cheese and sex was a chore.
Oh this book was everything! The plot twists were mind blowing, Nnaemeka and his parents are wicked people omg.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend—I raced right through it! House Woman opens a new world, with a writing style so deliciously descriptive I got lost every time I opened the book. It’s a window into experiences you can’t imagine, yet are so identifiable: Everyone knows someone who has experienced slices of this story, and can see themselves somewhere in it. It shines a light on generational cycles and expands important dialogue about them. The characters are so beautifully flawed, with motivations so compelling, each of them captured my twisted heart in their own way! Highly highly recommend.

[Emily Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a mess. The writing was a mess, the characterization was a mess, the plot was a hot sloppy mess. I don’t think this book knew what it was or even what it wanted to be. The author has something interesting to say I believe, but it’s so hard to parse through such a disjointed story. Also he literally ATE her passport?? Such a weird detail that is like never revisited again or explained but I can’t stop thinking about it???

[Jalisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hung on waiting for a plot twist and all I wish is that I had my time back. It was drawn out for no reason and ended with no real resolution. The extended and recurring descriptions of one of the characters having a smelly penis should have let me know all I needed to about this book but against my better judgement I held on. Don't be like me.

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

He could not bear another second of her hunger. His wife was not supposed to be a mouth. She was supposed to be the meal.

A thriller with a very interesting premise, but it was a lot less successful than it could have been, all because of the way it was told. In my opinion, anyway. It's about a young woman who travels from Nigeria to America for an arranged marriage, but her future parents-in-law are weird as fuck. As is her future husband. The story is mainly told from Ikemefuna's point of view, with interludes from Nna, the in-laws, Ikemefuna's mother, as well as various people in the neighbourhood, and Ikemefuna's past. 

And I mean, I did like the varying POVs. Not the abruptness at which we would sometimes head-hop, because that's one of my biggest nitpicks in writing. But in domestic thrillers like this, it's nice to sometimes step outside of the household, and see it from the inside out. (Not that I would actually really describe this as a "domestic" thriller, but it's the closest descriptor that makes sense.) That aspect of the writing I did enjoy, which is commendable, because domestic thrillers aren't my favourite. But on this other hand, this is the type of thriller where there are simply a bunch of reveals. A little bit of sleuthing and a little bit of action, sure, but for the most part, I felt like time just passed, and every so often something would be revealed to the reader, without us or the characters having to do anything to get that information. And it's such a boring way to tell a story. The villains also acted in ways that were just... really silly and not credulous at all? Like, they would often make decisions that did not gel with their nefarious plans or whatever, and it didn't click for me WHY they'd want to do those things? IDK. Nna was such a shitty little wet towel of a character, but I mean, I wasn't meant to like him, so that's fine. Ikemefuna had a lot of great moments, and I did like the tidbits about her past in Nigeria and her friendships and her dreams. But again, this felt like the kind of story where things just happened to her, and we got a lot of reveals about her, but she didn't get a chance to actually do much. Which is, of course, the point. But it wasn't entertaining or particularly good to read. And the ending was SO abrupt. I almost kinda like it? But I needed a liiiittle bit more.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Nene Nwoko; not my favourite, but very evocative. I think this book might partially be a casualty of a bad mood; I might have liked it better if I'd read it on a different day. I found myself rewinding a LOT, because some sections, especially near the middle of the book, simply weren't holding my attention. I still have overall positive feelings about it, but it just wasn't as successful as it could have been.

Content warnings: kidnapping, gaslighting, incest

[Miki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please let me preface this review by acknowledging that my anticipation to read Adorah Nworah’s new novel “House Woman” and my unrealistic expectations may have ruined the story for me. That being said, I didn’t want to put this down. Let me explain.

This story made me feel a myriad of emotions from anger to excitement (Yes, I was cheering Ikemefuna on when she was attempting to murder her in-laws). I felt hope and despair and frustration, so in that sense, this book was successful in moving me emotionally, which is a characteristic of a good book in my humble opinion.

“House Woman” is the story of Ikemefuna, a young, Nigerian woman held against her will and forced to marry an American Nigerian man, Nna, who is essentially her half brother. This story suffers from moments where the reader has to completely fill in the gaps between the moments of upheaval and calm which take place in and out and around the household in which Ikemefuna is trapped. I’m not sure if these gaps are due to the blackouts that Ikemefuna suffers from, but the stop and start plot is jolting and requires too much suspension of disbelief for me. And yet…I always felt compelled to read on to find out what happens to Ikemefuna.

I think that Ikemefuna has some great female rage in her and rightfully so. I loved her character! I would gladly read more about her. I was a bit disappointed at the loose ending, but that’s only because I wanted to see Ikemefuna get the freedom she deserves.

This a domestic thriller, which I’m not a fan of, but I like Nworah’s spin on the oh-so-predictable tales we’ve already seen published which don’t shed women in a realistic way—especially those stories from male writers who have no understanding of the female psyche. Nworah shows readers how nuanced and complex women are, especially women who are broken by the cruelty and abuse they endure from others, and how those women react and strike back when they’re pushed up against a wall. And in this story, vengeance is sweet—at least it was for me.

I think that Nworah’s story is something special, and I will happily pick up whatever she writes next!
If you’re interested in domestic thrillers, stories about transnationalism, and/or stories about the complexities of mixed heritage (heterosexual) relationships, then this is for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC of Adorah Nworah’s new novel “House Woman” in exchange for an honest review.

[Kayleigh (BookwormEscapes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5* - AD/PR - Well it’s definitely up there with the weirdest I’ve read! These families are so far past dysfunctional it’s insane! I went in expecting a domestic thriller and came out wondering what the f*ck I’d just read and needing 3-5 working days to recover 😂😂. I fully recommend experiencing it for yourself! Especially if you’re a fan of weird vibes and like your thrillers on the literary side and/or right on the border of horror!

Basically it’s about a woman who’s tricked into flying from Nigeria to Texas to marry the son of a family friend and imprisoned when she gets there. It’s a real slow burn as the treatment of Ikemefuna gets worse and more bizarre. It’s never boring though because you’re held in this constant state of suspense wondering where it’s going to go and at what point she’ll snap. The author doesn’t sugar coat a thing, right down to making me gag by describing the smell of Nna’s unwashed private parts (I’m surprised it hadn’t fallen off 🤮🤮). When she mentioned using her mouth I nearly threw the book out the window 😂😂.

In all seriousness though, I loved Ikemefuna’s sheer will to survive in the face of what she’s subject to. All of the characters are fascinating even when they disgust you! Nna was so naive and clueless most of the time that I just wanted to shake him and be like “WAKE UP MUMMY’S BOY, WASH YOUR CHEESY D*CK AND GROW A PAIR OF BALLS” 😂😂😂.

In terms of the mystery at the heart of the story… I mean, there’s family secrets and then there’s FAMILY SECRETS. I did not see that level of WTF coming 🤯🤯. The ending left me shook!

Overall, a dark and messed up thriller that gave me the ick but that I couldn’t stop reading even when I felt like I hated it! It was like a love to hate vibe. I loved it because I hated it and I stayed up til 3am to finish it!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

House Woman is a tense novel about a woman sent from Lagos to Houston to start a new life with a husband in America, only for things to not turn out like that. Ikemefuna is a dancer who dreams of freedom beyond the violence of her childhood, so when she is promised a new life in America with Nna, the son of her parents' former neighbours, it seems like a dream. One day in Texas, Nna returns to his parents' home to find a woman waiting for him, a woman who is apparently his wife. But as Ikemefuna, Nna, and Nna's parents spent time together in the Texas house, a strange story starts to unravel amidst the tense atmosphere, filled with darkness and pain.

The stark cover and intriguingly mysterious blurb drew me to this book, which is a tense thriller that leaves a lot of gaps as it tells the story through various characters' perspectives, increasing confusion and unpredictability as the story progresses. The prose is engaging, purposefully building up frustration with the different perspectives so you can feel how Ikemefuna doesn't know how to explain that something is starting to go wrong, and the characters act quickly, changing their minds often, which adds to this. By the end, the calmer atmosphere of the start has turned to violence, as you'd expect from a thriller, and the way it plays out could almost be a horror film, even though it doesn't really have horror elements.

This is a distinctive novel that explores the contradictions within people whilst having a tense plot. Some people may not like the way it goes from a book about an arranged marriage and expectations to a violent thriller, but I enjoyed it (and I think that the cover and ominous blurb do give you some sense of this, or at least I was expecting it).

[Kiera-Lea (kiki.reads.stuff) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was wild! It’s is an intense rollercoaster, blending horror and thriller elements. I’m struggling to put coherent thoughts across about it. But I’ll try.

I love how Nworah skillfully explores the dark side of societal games, exposing the unsettling intersections of misogyny and racism. The body horror, particularly tied to sex and pregnancy, adds a discomforting layer.

The pacing is FAST! It gave me whiplash a bit and I often got confused as to what was going on, due to the pure chaos of it all.

I do just have to say, the cheese-smelling-dick detail was so grim and over-emphasized - I thought it had to be a plot point. But it wasn't, leaving me a bit like WTF. I mean, why did nobody tell the grotter to have a bath and wash his bits?!

This debut is undeniably strange and intriguing, unique and difficult to put down. I’m excited to see more like this from Nworah.