Excerpt from A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

With most of the cooking done, Udoka started to tidy up the kitchen, gathering the dirty utensils into the sink and filling a bowl with water from the tap. There was no running water in her mother's house, and so Udoka enjoyed this, the way the tap sputtered to life and let out a stream of sun-warmed water when she turned its head.

Marigold cleared her throat, startling Udoka. She looked up from the sink to find Marigold standing very close.

"My dear," Marigold said quietly, "I want to ask you something."

"Yes, Mama?"

"Are you—?" She gave Udoka's crotch a meaningful look.

"When my son knocks at the door, will he meet you at home?"

Udoka looked away—it was the reaction expected from any decent girl when topics like this were raised. She contemplated the dishwashing water. There had been that one boy when she was in her first year at Awka Poly, that one evening, with her panties down and him panting on top of her. "Just the tip. Let me put just the tip," he'd croaked, his eyes bulging like he was choking to death. She had let him (but just the tip), and moments later he shuddered his release, and she shoved him off her so she could look, with dread, for any sign of red on his off-white sheets. There had been nothing, and therefore she could say the words with a clear conscience.

"Yes, Mama. I am a virgin."

"Hewu!" Marigold cried, enfolding Udoka in her arms. "My daughter, you have made me very happy. I didn't think I could find a virgin wife for my Uzor; you know how girls are these days, not like when your mother and I were young. I thank God for my friend Agatha, for bringing you for my son!" Udoka started to smile, but then she remembered how attractive a little insecurity could be. She lowered her gaze to the floor. "But, Mama, what if Uzor doesn't like me?"

"What do you mean he won't like you?" Marigold scolded gently. "What else can my son be looking for? Beautiful nwanyi-ocha like you, modest and intelligent. I know a good thing, and so does my son. If he does not marry you, it means he won't marry at all."

Udoka allowed herself a small smile. Her mother would be proud.

Excerpted from A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo. Copyright © 2024 by Uche Okonkwo. Excerpted by permission of Tin House Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.