Habiba: A Novel

Salehs love and respect for his mother, Hamsatu, is not only detrimental to his own life but also injurious to his family life. Hamsatu makes all the decisions in his life. She becomes despotic and decides who her son, Saleh, should marry, and the type of children his wife should bear. Habiba is just thirteen when her grandmother, Hamsatu brings in a suitor, Zubairu, a contemporary of her late husband. Although Saleh wishes to send all his children to school, a rainstorm renders him hopeless as his mother takes ill and eventually dies. Following his mothers death, Salehs bankruptcy compels him to take a loan from the elderly Zubairu and his failure to repay the loan compels him to hand over his daughter, Habiba, in marriage to Zubairu. Consequently, Habiba is helpless and soon discovers that she must pay not just for her fathers wrongs but must also shoulder the responsibility of his abandoned wife and children by remaining married to Zubairu who is willing to assist them as long as she plays his game. Habiba desires to punish both her father and Zubairu for ruining her dreams. What will she have to do to get at them?