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A Novel
by Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström
Spanning four decades and three continents, Bitter Honey is a story about a mother and daughter divided by long buried secrets, struggling to understand each other as they forge their own paths, from the internationally bestselling author of In Every Mirror She's Black.
1978: A scholarship draws Nancy from Gambia's warmth into Stockholm's frigid winter. When her friendship with charismatic scholar Lars blossoms into something more, she thinks she may have finally found her place. But there's more to Lars than his charming persona, and Nancy is about to discover the danger of being drawn into his world…
2006: Tina has had her taste of fame as Sweden's sweetheart pop princess, representing her country at Eurovision. But beneath her glittery façade, she's uncertain who she really is. Her mother, Nancy, seems desperate to keep the past under wraps, but will the unexpected appearance of Tina's father—a man she has long thought dead—help open the door to self-discovery?
Nancy just wants to protect her daughter from making the same mistakes she did, but Tina longs for the freedom to mess up, knowing her mother will always be there to support her. The two women love each other unconditionally, but can they learn to trust each other as well?
This poignant novel delves deep into the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters and delivers a warm, heartfelt story of love, forgiveness, and women finding their voices.
"The exploration of identity is nicely paired with just enough melodrama—drug- and sex-fueled Hollywood parties, shocking secrets, explosive confrontations, and the angst of an artist—to keep the plot buzzing along. Deliciously addictive—a family drama with compelling social commentary." —Kirkus Reviews
"Åkerström carefully examines the loneliness of frequently feeling like an outsider and how this can draw the most disparate of people together. Balancing the trauma and turmoil of being judged and appraised based on the prejudices of individual people and societies, this fitting follow-up dwells on the comforts of finding a community on which to depend." —Booklist
This information about Bitter Honey was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nigerian-American Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström is an award-winning speaker, photographer, and author of the international bestseller In Every Mirror She's Black and Everything Is Not Enough. She is based in Stockholm.
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