The novel Lonely Days has its backdrop in pastoral setting. It reflects the predicament of widows in African society ( Nigeria to be specific). The novel is a mirror of the quandary/dilemma of a Nigeria widow battling with either to uphold the status quo of levirate ( a system of remarrying within family, or the practice by which a man may be required to marry his brother's widow). In Nigeria's rustic society, even to some upholders of this tradition of levirate in urban society in Yorubaland, it is culturally acceptable for a widow after sometimes of mourning her deceased husband to 'pick a cap' ( remarrying to anew man) in the community.
The story is narrated through the plight of the protagonist, Yaremi, along with other characters who develop the plot structure of the novel. Lonely Days is a novel used by Bayo Adebowale to question the notion of cultural imposition of levirate. The denial of the protagonist, Yaremi to pick a cap, by invariably living a solitary life adds credence to this cultural practice (levirate) as obsolete (old fashioned).