Joseph R Alila

The Thirteenth Widow Joseph R Alila

In Joseph R. Alila's THE THIRTEENTH WIDOW, a one-sided war between two boys (Omolo and Tom) in middle school turns tragic in their middle age as Chief Omolo's secret acts not only drive Tom Okoth Oloo to his grave, but also unleash a viral plague that consumes a whole village and beyond. When Charles Okoth (Tom's elder brother) returns to his desolate Korondo village to redeem Tom's honor, he betroths Maria, one of Tom's many widows, who leads him to the haunting contents of a secret diary, in which Tom paints himself as an inexcusable victim of Chief Omolo's evil schemes. The diary further paints Tom as a gullible tragic individual, who falls from the headship of a prestigious local school to being an alcoholic womanizer and levir-for-hire on a predictable path to his death. Now, Charles' "taking in" of Tom's widows soon attract the ire of Chief Omolo's office. Only the diary can stop Chief Omolo's meanspirited schemes.