Stay with Me

A novel

By: Ayobami Adebayo

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

A New York Times Notable Book
The New York Times’ Critics’ Top Books of the Year
Named a Best Book of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, National Public Radio, The Economist, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Southern Living, HelloGiggles, and Shelf Awareness
Huffington Post’s Best Feminist Books of the Year
The New York Post’s Most Thrilling and Fascinating Books of the Year
The New York Public Library’s Ten Best Books of the Year

"A stunning debut novel." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

This celebrated, unforgettable first novel (“A bright, big-hearted demonstration of female spirit.” –The Guardian), shortlisted for the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction and set in Nigeria, gives voice to both husband and wife as they tell the story of their marriage--and the forces that threaten to tear it apart.

Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage--after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures--Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time--until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin's second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant. Which, finally, she does--but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine. An electrifying novel of enormous emotional power, Stay With Me asks how much we can sacrifice for the sake of family.

Critic reviews

Shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

"[A] stunning debut novel…. At once, a gothic parable about pride and betrayal; a thoroughly contemporary—and deeply moving—portrait of a marriage; and a novel, in the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie…. Adebayo, who is 29, is an exceptional storyteller. She writes not just with extraordinary grace but with genuine wisdom about love and loss and the possibility of redemption. She has written a powerfully magnetic and heartbreaking book." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A bright, big-hearted demonstration of female spirit, as well as the damage done by the boundlessness of male pride." —The Guardian

“Ayobami Adebayo’s taut, intimate debut novel, Stay with Me... careens backward and forward in time against a backdrop of politics, protests, crime and civil unrest... Close to Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies…. Conveyed with an operatic intensity that almost approaches the pitch of Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment.” —Anita Felicelli, The San Francisco Chronicle

“Stunning…. A work of intimate yet powerful—and even, at times, shocking—storytelling that will grow your sensitivity chip and make your world bigger, too.” —ELLE

“An absolute must-read and a story that will be shared for many decades to come.” —Emma Roberts, Refinery29

“Beautiful… Phenomenal… A layered story of love, sacrifice and hope… Adebayo’s debut is undoubtedly one of the best reads of this year.” —Lihle Z. Mtshali, Essence.com

Stay with Me

This was a wonderful read. I started out reading the book but work got too much. I needed to continue so I listened to the story while driving home. I will probably listen to it again.
Thanks for this well written story, Ms. Adebayo.

A Unique Story

I so appreciated that this story did not feel like something I’d read before. It was unique and held my interest from the very start. I couldn’t stop listening.

Heart-rending and epic

This book almost killed me, in a good way. As a mother I sometimes felt that I couldn't go in reading, it was just too much to bear emotionally, but I kept going, because I was too invested in the characters, I needed to see this through with them. I felt like I left a piece of me in that book when I finished.

Wonderful to listen to

I loved the narrator and how each character had a unique voice and conjured up an image all their own. The time flew by as I listened to this novel.

What I didn't care for was that one of the plot twists didn't make any sense at all. I don't want to give the story away, but one of the characters has a condition that would have been obvious to the wife and would have made it impossible for her to be able to hide something she did. I even replayed part of the story to make sure I hadn't missed something and I didn't. So one of the main plots just didn't make any darn sense.

If I excuse that, I enjoyed the bits of Nigerian culture that were woven throughout the story and it really hit home that we set ourselves up for misery and miss out on life when we pin all of our hopes on having a fairytale life that is imposed by the people around us. We have to find happiness in the true loves in our lives and stop wasting time pretending, lying, and covering it up to be something we aren't, especially when there are people who love us the way we are.

Awesome Story!

The delivery of this story was really good and the author was awesome at evoking so many many emotions as the story went on. Thoroughly enjoyed it.....did not want it to end.