Set in a remote village in Eastern Nigeria, an area yet to be affected by European values and where society is orderly and predictable, the story concerns a woman "of great beauty and dignity" who inadvertently brings suffering and death to all her lovers.

[1] On its publication in London by Heinemann Educational Books, The Concubine was hailed as a "most accomplished first performance" and "an outstanding work of pure fiction".

Rooted firmly among the hunting and fishing villages of the Niger delta, The Concubine nevertheless possesses the timelessness and universality of a major novel.

[5] The Concubine tells the story of Ihuoma, a stunningly beautiful and kind woman who cannot seem to have a typical romantic relationship, especially marriage due to her suitors dying under different mysterious circumstances.

When it was revealed that Ihuoma is a sea-goddess who cannot be married to any mortal man, Ekwueme decided to perform a ritual of appeasement to the Sea-King at midnight.