''My Father's Wives'' is a novel by the

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

n author

José Eduardo Agualusa José Eduardo Agualusa Alves da Cunha (born December 13, 1960) is an Angolan writer and columnist of Portuguese and Brazilian descent. He studied agronomy and silviculture in Lisbon, Portugal. Currently he resides in the Island of Mozambique, ...

published in 2008 by Arcadia Books (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

). It was translated by

Daniel Hahn Daniel Hahn (born 26 November 1973) is a British writer, editor and translator. He is the author of a number of works of non-fiction, including the history book ''The Tower Menagerie'', and one of the editors of The Ultimate Book Guide, a ser ...

from Portuguese: ''As Mulheres do Meu Pai'', published in 2007 by Editora Língua Geral (

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) and Publicações Dom Quixote (

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

). Upon his death, the famous Angolan composer Faustino Manso left seven widows and 18 children. His youngest daughter, Laurentina, a filmmaker, tries to reconstruct the late musician's turbulent life. In ''My Father’s Wives'', reality and fiction run side by side, the former feeding into the latter. However, in the territories Agualusa crosses, fiction plays a part in reality too. The four characters in the novel which the author is writing as he travels accompany him from

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

, the Angolan capital to

Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...

and Namibe (now

Moçâmedes Moçâmedes is a List of cities and towns in Angola, city in southwestern Angola, and the capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese Angola, Portuguese colonial administr ...

). They cross the

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n sands and their ghost towns, reaching

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. They carry on to

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, then

Quelimane Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative Capital (political), capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The riv ...

beside the Bons Sinais River, and then to the island of

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. They cross landscapes that border dreams, landscapes from which – here and there – the strangest characters emerge. ''My Father's Wives'' is a novel about women, music and magic. These pages herald the rebirth of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, a continent afflicted by terrible problems but blessed with a talent for music, by the ever-renewed strength of its women and the secret power of ancient gods.

Reception and criticism

In ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper,

Boyd Tonkin Boyd Tonkin Hon. FRSL is an English writer, journalist and literary critic. He was the literary editor of ''The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 2013. A long-time proponent of foreign-language literature, he is the author of ''The 100 Best No ...

called the work "rich in historical sidelights and deft character-sketches", continuing: "A radiant humour and humanity speeds his novel through its picaresque twists and turns." In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Jennie Erdal Jennifer Elizabeth Wilkie Erdal, ''née'' Crawford; first married name Bradshaw, known as Jennie Erdal (2 February 1951 – 23 May 2020) was a Scottish writer. She was the author of ''Ghosting'', a memoir of her childhood in a Fife mining villag ...

cites "an artful mix of fact, reportage, politics, poetry and personal confession, not to mention mountainous dollops of sheer unadulterated invention - all dispatched in short episodic chapters and musical, rhythmic prose." She praises further: "Agualusa, master of multiple perspectives, remains impressively in control. The result is a giant melting pot, exuding intoxicating fumes of love and death that permeate the exotic, chaotic sweep of southern Africa."Erdal, Jennie. "Across the continent." Review of ''My Father's Wives'' by José Eduardo Agualusa. ''The Guardian'', 20 December 2008. Print.

References

2007 novels Angolan novels Books by José Eduardo Agualusa Novels set in Angola Novels set in Mozambique Picaresque novels {{2000s-adventure-novel-stub