"My Father's Wives" is the story of Laurentina's journey, but this fiction also runs in parallel with Jose Eduardo Agualusa's story of the novel's genesis, as writer and characters travel the southern African coast, from Angola, through Namibia and South Africa, to Mozambique, meeting extraordinary people and discovering Faustino's secret along the way. This novel heralds the rebirth of Africa, a continent afflicted by terrible problems but blessed with a talent for music, by the ever-renewed strength of its women and the secret power of ancient gods.