Bitter Honey

We follow two timelines. Nancy’s story begins in 1979 as she sets up a new life (having uprooted from Gambia to Sweden). Her daughter, Tina’s, story begins in 2006 as she navigates being in the limelight as a pop star. This is a story about national identity, navigating family dynamics and intergenerational trauma.

I adored the way Bitter Honey tackled issues of family dynamics with such care and delicacy. I felt all the characters were so real: each had their unique flaws and complex lives which made them jump off the page. They have stayed in my mind beyond the end of the novel. I loved the set up with the mother and daughter timelines, the way they wove together was beautifully done. I especially enjoyed the exploration of Gambian and Swedish identity, which I haven’t read about before.

Multigenerational historical fiction is literally my favourite thing ever, and Bitter Honey did not disappoint. Akinmade’s depictions of trauma and how it affects generations that follow afterwards, trickling through the family was captured so well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me a digital proof copy, and Lola Akinmade for writing such a beautiful novel. I am now off to read her other books!

**Thank you NegGalley and Head of Zeus for having given me the opportunity to read this book**


“Bitter Honey” is the third novel by Lola Akinmade, after the duology which includes “In Every Mirror She’s Black” and “Everything Is Not Enough”, and it’s the third books by her I read.
This last work delves into the last of two characters we’ve already met in the duology, that are Nancy and Tina, respectively Tobias’s mother and sister. Two women with similar lives and yet so different, who experienced traumatic and tragic events provoked by the relationships with wrong and narcissistic men and by living in a society unable to welcome what is not usual.
Akinmade explores again the racial question in Sweden but here it’s deepened, and I’m glad about it because it’s less-explored topic in literature. New topics are discussed here as well: narcissism, which is the main, traumatic and toxic relationships, the loss of control, mother-daughter relationship and fate.
Nancy was destined to become the first Madam President of Gambia, but a red-haired man with honey-coloured eyes drew her apart from her fate. Tina was intended to be the next Afro-Swede popstar but she found herself changing route due to the racism and xenophobia of the Swedish society and due to the narcissism of a man who thought he could find a home in her.
“Bitter Honey” is a touching novel. I cried and rejoiced along with the main characters, I scolded and understood them, I rooted and hoped for them. My heart ached when I turned the last page and I know its two amazing protagonists, mother and daughter, will be with me for a long time.
I noticed an improvement in Akinmade’s writing style, but it’s still evident her literary identity, which is contemporary and honest. And “Bitter Honey’ is like this too: contemporary and honest.
Dear Lola Akinmade, keep it up!