Under the Udala Trees

During a power outage, Chibundu is out with friends from work. Chidinma dismembers a doll and asks to be held. Ijeoma tells her a story that she learned from Uzo about an orphan named Chikwendu and his dog. A stranger gives him a piece of meat, which is so small that Chikwendu doesn’t share it with his dog. The dog attacks him and they fight. The villagers help the dog and leave the boy to die. Ijeoma ends the story with the song that her father always sang at the end.

During bath time, Ijeoma tells a story about Obaludo, whose mother tries to prepare her for a day when spirits will come out to the market and Obaludo must stay home. Although Obaludo’s mother warns her to prepare the yams before the snails to avoid the snail-liquid dousing their fire, Obaludo forgets and ruins dinner for her and her sisters. They argue over who should go out and fetch fire, and it ends up being Obaludo. She meets a spirit on her errand. When she talks to the spirit, she gives it her beauty; when the spirit responds, it gives back ugliness. While Ijeoma is singing the story’s accompanying song, Chibundu appears and watches them.

After seeing him in the doorway, Ijeoma doesn’t resist Chibundu’s advances by pretending to be asleep. She prays for a son, thinking having one will allow her to leave Chibundu without guilt because she has given him what he wants.

Ijeoma gets pregnant and loses the baby. Her miscarriage happens while she is picking up Chidinma. After putting her daughter down, Ijeoma starts bleeding. Chidinma holds her hand while standing in her blood. Ijeoma passes out and wakes in the hospital. Chibundu reports that once the doctors have healed her, they can try again.

When they return home from the hospital, Chibundu pays lots of attention to his car—his good luck charm for a boy. After a few weeks, he says Chidinma can ride the toy car. She doesn’t seem to enjoy it. 

Ijeoma recalls a legend about spirit children who gather above udala trees, making women who stay under them fertile. A nine-year-old friend of hers from school told her this legend and made Ijeoma sit with her under the udala trees near their school. Ijeoma reflects on how even girls as young as nine are indoctrinated to care about fertility.

A dream about udala trees inspires her to leave Chibundu. In the dream, Ijeoma, in a yellow dress, stands in a circle of stones with candles on them. Under the udala trees, her daughter is hanging from a noose with Uzo’s Bible in her hands.

A second dream: Chidinma, under udala trees, is grown with a daughter of her own. There are sounds of a raid, and Ijeoma can’t get Chidinma to run to the bunker. The baby chokes, and Chidinma doesn’t help her; Ijeoma can’t approach in the dream-state.

After these dreams, Ijeoma gathers some things in a bag, grabs Chidinma, leaves the house, and gets a taxi to Aba. On the short walk to Adaora’s house, Ijeoma sits on a tree stump and prays. 

On January 13, 2014, in Aba, Ijeoma recalls recurring dreams about Amina. One is about the river near the Girls’ Academy. The second is at the grammar school teacher’s house. Before describing the third dream, Ijeoma interjects political thoughts about Gowon, Ojukwu, and the war, emphasizing remembrance and forgiveness. The third dream is set in the North, among Hausa people, at a bus stop. Amina appears with “her face and her long braids [...] masked by the veil” (316). When Ijeoma tries to talk, her words are drowned out by a passing lorry.

Ijeoma quickly recaps a few key moments of in the intervening years. In 2008, people in Lagos—where Chidinma lives—stoned and beat LGBT church members. Adaora calls them un-Christian. Chidinma, a university professor, has become an LGBT ally. In 2013, lesbians at Chidinma’s university are beaten. Adaora condemns the hate crime and wishes the president would pass legislation protecting LGBT citizens.

Chibundu remained in Port Harcourt after Ijeoma left him. After several unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation, he gives up trying to win Ijeoma back, but never remarries. He never outs her. Chidinma and Chibundu are on generally good terms after some difficult periods.

Ijeoma tells the story of a man who drove into a neighbor’s yard and killed the neighbor’s son, but tried to cast himself as the victim—a lesson about the ownership of tragedy.

Ndidi and Ijeoma get back together, and they remain in love for several decades. However, they officially have to live separately and keep their relationship a secret. They fantasize about a town where they could live openly.

Ijeoma considers Hebrews 8, and how laws can be revised. This expands into her larger theological viewpoint of change being part of God’s plan.

The book ends with the moment that Ijeoma returns to her mother’s home with Chidinma after leaving Chibundu. Adaora decides, “God, who created [Ijeoma], must have known what He did. Enough is enough” (324) and accepts Ijeoma’s lesbianism.