Childlessness is a point of departure for this book, but it is by no means the only thing at its heart
Afew weeks after its release, Stay with Me was longlisted for the Bailey’s Women Prize. Was this immediate success something that surprised you?
I was shocked. In all the years it took to write this book, I never allowed myself to imagine that it would be this well received, and so quickly.
Unfortunately, it didn’t win the prize. How did you cope with that disappointment?
I wasn’t disappointed. Making the shortlist with a debut novel was already a win for me and on top of that, I love the novel that won.
Incidentally, your novel was one of the last, if not the last, reviewed by the legendary Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times and she was full of compliments for your writing. How did that make you feel?
Astonishing, isn’t it? When I read a few sentences from the review, I was shocked, happy and filled with utter delight. I intend to savour the full review when I finish the next novel and I expect that the emotions I mentioned will only intensify.
When did you start this story, because I know an earlier version of the manuscript was shortlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Prize?
You’re right, I started working on the novel in 2010 and one of the early drafts was shortlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Prize in 2013.
What was it about this story that pushed you to write it? Why did you feel strongly that the story of Yejide and Akin needed to be told?
I wrote a short story about this couple in 2008 and thought that was it, but for the next two years I couldn’t stop thinking about Yejide in particular. Although I worked on other stories, there was something insistent about the way Yejide and Akin kept coming back to me. They became so real to me that I was compelled to tell their story, if only to get them out of my mind so I could move on to other things.
One thing I like about this novel is that the narration is both tender and brutal at the same time. Tender in the depiction of Yejide’s troubles and brutal, if you like, in the way her struggle is perceived and the reaction it draws. How did you develop this style? Is it something you think is peculiar to this story or is it something we should expect to see in your subsequent works?
Thank you for reading it closely enough to pick that up. I wanted to stay true to how pernicious many culturally acceptable or permissible interventions into a woman’s real or perceived infertility can be, and the fact that such interventions can be well intentioned is often inconsequential. Some of the brutality you refer to arises from that desire. Even then, I didn’t want it to be too stark and grim, so I did work at folding tenderness into the text. I can’t answer the second question conclusively, and though I think this particular story demanded this style, I don’t know if I’ll ever write something else that needs to be crafted in this way.
Childlessness among married couples has been the subject of many literatures. When the story first occurred to you did you feel like you are threading an all too familiar path?
Not at all. Childlessness is a point of departure for this book, but it is by no means the only thing at its heart. We’re not even halfway into the novel before they have a child and that leaves room for other themes and ideas to take up room alongside this one. Besides, if we look closely enough, we often realise that no two paths are the same and by recognising that and building on it, writers continue to