March book of the month: Stay with Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò - Join our book club discussion and author webchat TONIGHT between 9 and 10pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Our March book of the month is another brilliant debut. Ayòbámi Adébáyò's Stay With Me is a deeply moving story of a young couple as they embark on adult - and married life. It's about motherhood, family, relationships and the abhorrent treatment of women when life is unable to follow the socially accepted route in modern day Nigeria. Last year it was short listed for the Bailey's Women's Prize for fiction and this year has already been long listed for The Wellcome Book Prize and International Dylan Thomas Prize.

If you'd like to find out more, read what our book club bloggers have to say and read the first chapter or listen to an extract.

We're delighted that Ayòbámi Adébáyò has agreed to join us for our book club discussion on Wednesday 28 March at 9pm. Please do join us this month in reading Stay With Me. Post your comments on this thread and watch out for the webchat thread later in March.

Loved reading this book- fantastic narrative.

Ordered today looking forward to being part of this book club

Thanks Mumsnet for suggesting the book. Really enjoyed it. It is a superb debut with a compelling style and a fluid narrative.

For a complete review please click on the link below:

onerightword.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/stay-with-me-ayobami-adebayo.html

Reading now. Look forward to we chat

@RachelMumsNet - Please could you point me in the direction of the information on the titles after April/May? I ask as the next two books are currently 99p for Kindle on Amazon and it would be good to know if later titles are also included in the offer. Many thanks!

[quote DeltaG]@RachelMumsNet - Please could you point me in the direction of the information on the titles after April/May? I ask as the next two books are currently 99p for Kindle on Amazon and it would be good to know if later titles are also included in the offer. Many thanks![/quote]

Of course!

April book of the month: The Cows by Dawn O'Porter
May book of the month: The Awkward Age by Francesca Segal
June book of the month: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I'll update you on the next few months as and when they are confirmed.

Thank you!

Just ordered! I'm a bit behind on book club already - still reading the last one but goal is to read them all this year! I need to get back to reading!!

I'm really disappointed with the new Mumsnet book club. You used to run lots of competitions and book giveaways. I used to look forward to this and contribute regularly to the live chats. Then nothing happened with It For Ages .Now I'm not really sure why this has been handed over to the book bloggers. I think its a marketing scam in the same vein as Richard And Judy Bookclub

I've got my copy from the library and hoping to start it later :)

Just to let you know that Ayobami Adebayo will be joining us this week on WEDNESDAY (28 MARCH) between 9 and 10pm. We do hope you're able to join us. If you've read the book and not around on Wednesday, feel free to post comments and questions for Ayobami on this thread before then.

The webchat will take place on this thread and everyone who joins us on the night will be entered into a draw to win a copy of next month's book of the month (we have 10 copies up for grabs), so grab a cuppa or glass of your favourite tipple and log on at 9pm when we'll be able to chat to the author and other readers for on hour. We do hope to see you then.

Loved this book! Bookmarking my place for tomorrow night.

I’ve just bought it, likely won’t finish before the web chat but loooing forward to it.

I really enjoyed reading Stay With Me and wanted to ask Ayobami what made you decide to write the story from both Yejide and Akin's point of view? What did you hope to achieve by doing this? Was it really difficult to write from both points of view? I felt that it really added to the experience of reading the novel.

I loved this book - although it was so sad, it was also very uplifting. It felt like there was a tension between traditional patriarchal roles and modernity - but women were ultimately placed in positions of strength. How hard was it to keep that feeling of hope running through the book, despite the storyline being so heartbreaking?

I haven’t finished it yet either, but I’m really enjoying it so far, so thank you. Though it has also made me quite angry at various points!

You write so insightfully from the different perspectives so I wondered whether the story is inspired by personal experience?

Kiiiy

hi Ij'm a my daughter m

Hi Ayobami

Congratulations on your beautifully written first novel.

Considering the powerful themes of the book, was the writing experience an emotional one for you?

I left it until rather late to start the book - yesterday actually! Luckily it was brilliantly written, full of interesting characters and a great story, so I finished it late last night.

What struck me was that whilst it had all the appearance of a patriarchy, the women were very much in charge in the home. Not only that but there was little feeling of sisterhood, just jealousy, bullying and cruelty towards each other. Akin struck me as a weak man, too afraid to admit the truth to anyone and instead allowing his mother and other women to abuse and blame his wife.

I've read another book (a while ago now and can no longer remember the title) set in a similar setting and the themes were along the same lines. I suspect this is a story which occurs more often than people would think. Is this the case? And is this story based on anyone?

Welcome everyone to our March book club discussion evening and a very warm welcome to our author this month: Ayòbámi Adébáyò, author of Stay With Me. We’re delighted that you’ve been able to join us and are looking forward to talking to you about your writing and specifically your amazing debut, Stay With Me that has already received so much admiration and praise. I know there’s quite a few questions already in so let’s get started - over to you Ayòbámi ….

I think many of the characters in this book were simultaneously unlikeable and endearing. Moomi in particular. Dare I ask if she was based on anyone in real life?

Hello! Thanks for joining the webchat tonight.