The book tells the story of Okomo, an orphan who was born a bastard whose mother died during childbirth, and lives in a traditional village in Equatorial Guinea that is about a day's walk from Gabon.

She is forced to confront her culture's attitudes about gender roles, requirements for women to have sex for the purpose of reproduction at the direction of men, and sexuality.

Trifonia Melibea Obono is considered one of the most avant-garde and brave Black African voices in former colonial Spanish Africa.

La Bastarda was written by Trifonia Melibea Obono, a Spanish-speaking black woman from Equatorial Guinea.

She also is a faculty member at Spain's Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), as part of its Center for Afro-Hispanic Studies.

[1][4][9][10] In 2017, she completed her doctorate at the Universidad de Salamanca, writing her thesis about traditional marriage and dowry practices among the Fang people of her home country.

[9] Okomo, an orphan who was born a bastard and whose mother died during childbirth, lives in Ayá Esang, a traditional village in Equatorial Guinea that is about a day's walk from Gabon.

Okomo has a special relationship with an uncle, her mother's brother and another child of her grandfather's first wife, named Marcelo.

Because her uncle is a woman man, the family is estranged from him and Okomo becomes a key contact person in their attempts to get Marcelo to have sex with his sister-in-law.

Women's importance in sexual relations is minimal, with no real thought given to their consent or pleasure in the act.

[1][9] The irrelevance of women as things other than tools for procreation is shown through the sale of two girls to pay off debts by their fathers.

[1][4] Liberation from the cultural and societal restrictions around sexuality and gender roles in the book are expressed through Marcelo retreating to the forest where he can be with his partner.

[8] Alejandro de los Santos, writing for afribuku.com, liked the book, but felt the last chapter was a bit rushed.