The Unpaid Bride Price

Imagine a fourteen-year-old prince from a war-prone tribe eloping with a king's twelve-year-old daughter to his tribe in defiance of the marital custom in an ancient grassland kingdom in Sub-Saharan Africa now described by cartographers as northwest Cameroon.

Nangeh, the oldest daughter of savage king Bonteh, elopes with her lover Ful, a goat-herder--offspring of a wealthy family--to his village without paying the Bride Price to Nagesh's father. It is against the law for a woman to walk away with a man and have children without a Bride Price.

When angry messengers bring to her father, King Bonteh, the news that the protagonist, Ful's family, has refused to pay her Bride Price, the king summons a meeting of elders to discuss measures without ruling out a military assault. But King Bonteh faces tough opposition from some of his councilors. Left alone, he contemplates suicide in this 85,000-word (345-page) adventurous novel suitable for the trade market.

His lover rejects the advice of his family and turns away his in-laws-to-be, who have come to negotiate for the Bride Price. Nangeh continues to raise her children and manage a small business as tensions ensue in both villages. Eventually, she is killed through voodoo.

Komfum acquires redemptive glimpses of his mother's sad betrayal and more knowledge about the kingdom from his uncle to start a new life in his father's village. Subplots describe the lifestyles, diet, day-to-day customs, and sartorial decorum of the Kom people.

These fateful events create the framework for a savage tale of love, betrayal, hostility, and hatred, which causes Nangeh's downfall.