Liz is locked in a meaningless, loveless marriage with a (modern-day) polygamous husband. The second wife, apparently an educated and independent woman, becomes her competitor, and intimacy or tenderness with her husband becomes impossible for her. The author tells the story in a laconic style, and with sharp humour, making observations and criticisms about women's experiences of traditional and modern day marriage and polgamy in Africa, as well as her culture's uncritical reception of western ways. This is a new novel from one of Uganda's most prolific writers and critics.

The author is a celebrated columnist, a former literature lecturer, and the founder of Uganda Women Writers' Association. She is also a playwright and has published children's literature. This novel is a fictionalised record of Uganda's past tragic national experience. Spanning the decades of successive regimes, it covers the story of Africa's post-colonial political actors typified by the thinly disguised Presidents, Opolo, Duduma, Polle and Kazi. Weaving together strands of political and gender concerns, and employing humour, the central image of the novel is theweevil.