In Every Mirror She's Black by Lola Akinmade Åkerström is a powerful and thought-provoking exploration of the experiences of Black women in Sweden. The novel follows the lives of three interconnected characters, Kemi, Brittany-Rae, and Muna, as they navigate the complexities of race, identity, and relationships in a foreign country.
The characters are well-developed and relatable, offering a diverse representation of the Black female experience. Highly recommend.

Of the three women's stories, it was Muna's who engaged me most. I thought the depiction of the immigrant experience was really powerful, if depressing. Despite her attempts to integrate by learning Swedish, she finds herself friendless and alone, clinging to memories of the man she met when she first arrived in the country as an asylum seeker. I could understand Kemi's disappointment when, after initial success in the role she was recruited into, she is sidelined. But I didn't find her story particularly compelling. I could not understand Brittany at all. Her decisions left me gobsmacked. Even before the revelation that occurs towards the end of the book, I was thinking 'Why on earth are you with Jonny?' a man who has a fetish for Black women and seeks to control every aspect of Brittany's life. My biggest issue with the book (apart from the fact I found it extremely slow and the scenes of physical intimacy were a turn-off) was the author's decision to have Jonny be on the autistic spectrum. It made me feel distinctly uncomfortable. If the author was NOT trying to form a link between his fetishism and his autism - as she says in her Author's Note - then why make him someone with autism at all? It was only when I got to the end of the book that I discovered the stories of two of the women would continue in a later book. Unfortunately one of them isn't Muna.

This is a fast paced book with complex well developed characters. They were interesting and very different. A great book that explores racism

I enjoyed the setting, themes and multi perspective narrative (though Muna was far more likeable). Brilliant debut and will definitely be reading the author’s newest book.

An uneven but thought-provoking novel which covered racial dynamics in Sweden in a really interesting way. I would be keen to read the author's next book.

I need to say that I have devoured this book and I would love some recommendations related to this title.

Amazing!

‘In Every Mirror She’s Black’ is Lola Akinmade Akerstrom’s debut novel and follows the lives of three black women, who find themselves living in Sweden. Each chapter cycles through their individual points of view.

Kemi is a marketing executive who desires change in her life. She is offered a new job in Sweden with plenty of incentives and so relocates there from the USA. Yet will her life experience be different there?

Brittany-Rae was a model in her 20s, though now in her late 30s is working as a flight attendant. As she interacts with the super-rich she envies their privilege. She then has the opportunity to enter that world through her relationship with a wealthy Swedish man. It seems to be the answer to her dreams but at what price?

Somalian refugee Muna has been granted asylum in Sweden following a treacherous journey during which members of her family died. She is struggling to adjust. Will she ever feel that she belongs?

Businessman Jonny Von Lundin features in each of these women’s lives. He hires Kemi for his Stockholm based Marketing company to bring more diversity and inclusion to its campaigns; he courts Brittany-Rae, and Muna is initially housed in a hostel funded by Jonny and later works as a cleaner at Von Lundin Marketing.

So each of these three women are in search of a new start and find themselves in Stockholm, a city that prides itself on its egalitarianism and openness. However, they find instead silent racism, fetishisation and tokenism – and another society that seeks to put them in a box.

While there is the link of Jonny and his company the author keeps her three protagonists apart except for brief interactions. She writes that this was “my goal of presenting each of them as individuals and not the bearers of a nonexistent homogenous Black culture.”

The novel includes a conversation with the author about the novel and a reading group guide. I do feel that this is a novel likely to appeal to book groups given its accessibility and the scope for discussion.

With respect to the audiobook, Sara Powell and Rosemarie Akwafo were both excellent readers, bringing the characters of the novel vividly to life. This was my first audiobook experience of both actors, though I was aware of Sara Powell’s television work. Her voice is very rich and mature. While this was Rosemarie Akwafo’s first audiobook project, I was impressed by the beauty and clarity of her voice. I felt that both did well with the accents required by the narrative.

I was pleased that the audiobook edition included the author’s note and the important message about the availability of support groups.

Overall, I felt that ‘In Every Mirror She’s Black’ was a fantastic debut. It held my attention throughout and was well written and thought-provoking

In Every Mirror She's Black is a beautiful read. It tells the very different stories of three women all who individually have their own things going on. It really highlights how peoples differences make them unique and everyone should be celebrated for who they are.

Got mixed feelings on this one. Loved the insight into Sweden's homogeneity, micro aggressions in everyday life, racism at home and abroad and prejudice in all its forms that affected the three protagonists in this novel. However the execution let it down. I couldn't get my head around these women and their choices. I get that you can make poor choices, followed by doubling down, until you've reached the stage of sunk-cost fallacy and common sense is out the window.

There are important themes here, and events and dialogue that made me think, unfortunately outweighed by the crass undeveloped characterisation of these black women and their focus on white men. Despite all said, I did enjoy this book, my disappointment is more because I expected to love it.

My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this eArc.

In every mirror she's black follows the life experiences of three black women from dramatically different backgrounds, but who are treated superficially the same due to the colour of their skin and the expectations of their sexuality.
All three women take life changing decisions to alter the course of their lives in the hope of advancement. However, Akerstrom deftly recreates a world that still primarily bases assumptions on first appearances. These women are flawed human beings struggling to decipher what they want out of life for themselves and this allows for a more complete depiction of what could have been a stereotypical point of view. Ultimately this book is about belonging - to others, to society and fundamentally to yourself.

Intertwining stories that had me turning the page. I really enjoyed the exploration of culture throughout this book, particularly the nuanced ways Black characters had to balance their history in Sweden. Åkerström successfully delves into each character’s battle with their own identity in this society, whilst linking it with interesting encounters and actions which keep the reader hooked.

The white man as a pivotal protagonist is a great symbol of the main theme; the prejudice that seeps throughout Europe and particularly into the lives of Åkerström‘s characters. Although a dislikable character, Jonny is a clever tool used to compare the contrast in the treatment of people who are seen as ‘different’ depending on their skin colour and their class status. I loved the conclusive ending and getting to see all three women reach the end of their journey.

Kemi is ready to change her life. She's sick of being second-guessed in the boardroom; tired of smiling politely while men gaze at her body; bored of dating surveys that tell her Black African women are the least desired in America. Moving across the world, for a new job, certainly things will be different?

Brittany-Rae is tired of serving others. She's determined not to struggle like her parents did. As a flight attendant, she's seen the way the super-wealthy float, untouchable and easy, and she envies it. As a model in her twenties, she had a taste of that privilege. Now pushing forty, she knows that to have one kind of freedom, she must sacrifice another.

Muna began her treacherous journey two years ago. Then, she was a family of three. Now her mother and younger brother are buried somewhere at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. She's been granted asylum, but she can't shake the feeling that she will never belong. When your only family is a stack of passport photos, it's hard to grow new roots.

In search of escape, these three women find themselves in Stockholm, a city that prides itself on being egalitarian and open. Instead of a fresh new start, they find the same problems just wear a different name.

Such moving complex characters the book looks at racism and how the characters fit into society. Three women not know to each other but through the book they are united in culture , love and privilege… It is an eye opening book which is an enjoyable one !

What a wonderful book, well written, engaging and thought-provoking, I thoroughly enjoyed this.

The three main characters, Kemi, Brittany and Muna are all black women who for a variety of reasons are living in Sweden. They are well-drawn and develop throughout the book, drawing the reader into their lives, all of which are quite different.

The plot is well-crafted and thoroughly engaging, which meant that I found it hard to put the book down.

There is a great sense of place and I enjoyed experiencing their lives in Sweden.

I loved this book, and was compelled to buy a physical copy because of both the affection I have for the book and the beautiful cover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Apollo publishers for an ARC.

I really really wanted to enjoy this, but I could finsih it. The writing wasn't great and I just wasn't drawn into the sorry at all. I found the protagonists didn't receive the same attention from the author, it felt really disjointed. Sorry!

Three Black women are linked in unexpected ways to the same influential white man in Stockholm as they build their new lives in the most open society run by the most private people.

I had incredibly high expectations for this novel - but it fell short for me 😬

It tried to tackle too many things at once - which meant they all fell kinda short and didn't have enough space.

The three characters do not receive equal attention, which makes the novel feel very uneven. They don't show any development at all - they just all fall flat for me

The worst thing was the writing though. It's too rushed and reads almost like the script for a soap opera

There's loads to unpack in this novel - would make for a great book club read

Excellent inspiring read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Three women from completely different backgrounds end up in Sweden, Kemi - the high flying career woman looking to shake up her life, Brittany-Rae - model turned air hostess with a seemingly happy life and Muni - a refugee who is looking for a better life. The only thing they have in common is the colour of their skin but their lives cross in unexpected ways. I felt for both Kemi and Muni, but struggled with Brittany-Rae.

The ending comes as a surprise and I highly recommend reading this novel.

I was given a copy of In Every Mirror She's Black by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

I had high hopes for this novel, unfortunately I decided to abandon it part way through. I really hate not finishing books but sometimes, if you are not getting anything out of the read, it is the only thing to do. I found the writing to be quite poor and rather repetitious, and I found that I really couldn’t care less about these women. What should have been an engaging, intense and informative novel, for me personally turned out to be no such thing.

This book came out a little on the uneven side for me. I found the concept of the intersecting lives of these three black women really intriguing, especially against the backdrop of life in Sweden. Knowing people who have experieced both jarring cultural difference and racism in Sweden, I was interested to see how being there impacts these characters.

That said, I didn't find the viewpoints to be evenly spread and the characterisation felt pretty surface level. Kemi in particular feels like a similar type of characters that's popped up in tons of books I've read this year without all that much to individualise her. This might be coming from me reading a lot of books in this style recently with similar tropes so I'm a bit oversaturated from it.

Certainly the writing style was great, in particularly the pacing and flow. The setting and experiences are thought provoking and often infuritating, I'm sure it will speak to many people and get others thinking. This one came in at fairly neutral all things considered but I'd definitely read something else by the author in the future.

The blurb of this book sounded good, and the book itself held my interest for a while. It is told from the perspective of three black women going/fleeing to Sweden and their lives, relationships and the racism there. I understood the author´s intent to show them with all their faults, but not Brittany´s intents in regard to the seemingly creepy Jonny. Kemi seemed too little confident in her job, and Muna would deserve more interest in her cruel story. The author tried to put too much into one book, and in the middle it dragged, and I thought it wouldn´t develop in any way. Towards the end it picked up pace only to end quite sadly for at least a part of the characters.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly recommend this book. There is so much going on in this book - layers on layers. The careful but subtle interweaving of the three stories holds it together as a novels rather than three separate narratives is brilliantly executed. The Swedish setting adds to the brilliance in my opinion as the country is familiar to many for many things such as Scandi noir, Ikea, happiest people in the world, but are not a nation that first comes to mind when thinking of racism (in the UK at least). But racism is just one of many important themes explored in this book, that black women the world over have to navigate on a daily basis.

I think this will also make a fantastic book for book clubs - the discussions will be great.