Name: In Every Mirror She's Black
Rating: 3.833333333333333 (15 reviews)
ISBN: 9781801108607

Lola Akinmade Akerstrom

'A sharply written story with messy, deeply moving characters' Taylor Jenkins Reid 'I was captivated by the writing from page one... Powerful' Lizzie Damilola Blackburn 'The story of Kemi, Muna and Brittany-Rae - Black women hoping to start anew in a society that does not see them - is a story for these times' Chika Unigwe 'A sexy, surprising, searing debut about love, loss, desire, and the many dimensions of Black womanhood. Timely and terrific!' Deesha Philyaw Three very different women are desperate for their lives to change. Though strangers, they are drawn to the same place: Stockholm, a city famed for its egalitarianism. But beneath the city's glittering surface lurk challenges old and new. Challenges that threaten to tear them down once and for all...

In Every Mirror She's Black

Lola Akinmade Åkerström

A timely and arresting debut for anyone looking for insight into what it means to be a Black woman in the world. 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. Successful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi is lured from the U.S. to Sweden by Jonny von Lundin, CEO of the nation's largest marketing firm, to help fix a PR fiasco involving a racially tone-deaf campaign. A killer at work but a failure in love, Kemi's move is a last-ditch effort to reclaim her social life. A chance meeting with Jonny in business class en route to the U.S. propels former model-turned-flight-attendant Brittany-Rae Johnson into a life of wealth, luxury, and privilege--a life she's not sure she wants--as the object of his unhealthy obsession. And Somali refugee Muna Saheed, who lost her entire family, finds a job cleaning the toilets at Jonny's office as she works to establish her residency in Sweden and, more importantly, seeks connection and a place she can call home. Told through the perspectives of each of the three women, In Every Mirror She's Blackis a fast-paced, richly nuanced yet accessible contemporary novel that touches on important social issues of racism, classism, fetishization, and tokenism, and what it means to be a Black woman navigating a white-dominated society. Lola Akinmade Åkerström is an African-American (Nigerian-American) award-winning author, speaker, and photographer based in Sweden. This is her first novel.

I wanted to like this book so bad! A book about three insanely different lives of Black women just screamed to me. But, the book was boring. The book’s timeline was never clear and it caused confusion in understanding where the character’s were in life. Also, the fact that the only similarity we were meant to see between them was their relationship to a White man pissed me off, I’m sorry. Not worth the read honestly.

Tagwa Shammet

The authentic and insightful story of Kemi, Brittany-Rae and Muna, three Black women and their everyday experiences living in Stockholm, a predominantly white city. Three Black women. Three everyday lives. There is no one way to be Black.

chichi lewis

Mmmmmm….this is a book I would’ve been fine never reading. I saw it everywhere on bookstagram however it did NOT live up to the hype. The fetishization of black women was weird. I didn’t like it. It made me uncomfortable. This book had 3 POV but we really only got a “real” ending from one character. The other two left us hanging. I really dislike books with an ending that leaves me like “wait what.?? that’s the ending?????!” 

🙃

Kyle S

I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't recommend it. I picked up this book because I wanted to take a break from my usual genres of choice and give something else ago, and all in all I enjoyed In Every Mirror She's Black. I wanted a book that challenged my reading preferences along with my worldview, and this book did just that. 

In Every Mirror She's Black we follow the lives of three black women, Kemi, Britney, and Muna. Each of them is living their own stories and are nothing more than side characters in each other's (I found this rather refreshing really). Kemi is a marketing executive hired by a Swedish marketing firm to become their "Director of Diversity & Inclusion" after a tone-deaf campaign that happened in that firm less than a year from her hiring. Britney is a former model gone flight attendant who ends up in a relationship with the owner and CEO of said marketing firm after a chance encounter on a plane. Finally, Muna is a Syrian refugee living in Stockholm who works part-time as a custodian at the aforementioned marketing firm. Each of them is going through their own hardships and their paths only cross superficially. 

The book itself I found okay in its writing, the prose is nothing to rave about but it gets its job done. What I really enjoyed about the book were the characters. Each of them had their own distinct personalities and clear motivations that by the end of the book I felt like I really did know who Kemi, Britney and Muna were (plus all of the significant side figures in their lives). I understood their hardships and was rooting for them by the end. (Even if I didn't agree with all of the decisions). 

Despite the book having a bit of a contrived premise (three black women whose lives are interlinked through this Swedish company), the book itself is anything but contrived. Everything felt natural and felt like a character study of each of these women. (Spoilers: by the end of the book they've all changed, but there are still hundreds of hardships ahead of them and not everything is fully resolved, but it's not about tying up everything in a nice bow since real life isn't like that at all)

(End spoilers) All in all, I'm happy I read this book and I plan on picking up more books outside of my reading comfort zone in the future.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström tells the story of three very different women transplanted to Sweden whose lives come to revolve around the country's biggest marketing company and its enigmatic CEO. There's Brittany-Rae, flight attendant and former model who catches the eye of wealthy, powerful Jonny van Londin. Jonny begins an intense pursuit of Brittany, upending her life in the US and offering luxury, wealth and the protection Brittany craves. But is it love at the root of Jonny's feelings, or do his former black partners point to something more sinister? 

Kemi, a Nigerian-American has carved a successful career in marketing in the USA. After winning another prestigious award, she is head-hunted by Jonny to spearhead a new image of inclusion and diversity after a racially insensitive campaign. Increasingly unfulfilled in her work and personal life, Kemi moves to Sweden but find that the most difficult parts of being a black woman follow her there. Do they want her talent and expertise or is she just a token black face? 

Muna is a Somali refugee, living in a camp funded by Jonny van Lundin. After a horrific incident Muna is granted Swedish residency and moved into a flat with two other refugee women. After logging her everyone she loves, she hopes she can finally make a home and a family. She takes a job as a cleaner at the van Londin offices where she sees both Brittany and Kemi, strong, successful black women who fill her with pride and hope. But getting residency isn't the end to Muna's struggles as a black, Muslim refugee woman. 

Åkerström creates a brilliantly vibrant and nuanced narrative that shows how black women in very different situations face the same issues of misogynoir, racism, tokenism and fetishization. She unravels the idea of Sweden as a Nordic, post-racial utopia and shines an unforgiving light on the idea of social and cultural integration. She pulls no punches and it's a testament to get deft writing and brilliant characterisation that their difficult experiences don't make the novel hopeless. The strength of Brittany, Kemi and Muna has you rooting for them on every page.

Anika | @chaptersofmay

In Every Mirror She’s Black is a strikingly insightful portrait of three Black women who find themselves living in Stockholm, Sweden. Although they don’t have anything in common, the women are all connected by a white Swedish man, Jonny von Lundin. 

This novel is unique in its honesty, shared through the three perspectives of its protagonists. As Åkerström has stated, she wanted Kemi, Brittany, and Muna “to be free of having to carry the weight of society or their individual cultures simply because they are Black.” As each woman faces the challenge of integrating into a new society, we’re exposed to the insecurities, flaws, and judgements that make them human. 

The author uses the complexities racism, migration, privilege and tokenism to display a clear and raw portrayal of modern society. While the narrative is fiction, its evident Åkerström is speaking from her own experience, and her perceptive writing adds to the intelligent story being told. The writing style is simple and straightforward, but the characters and their journey is fascinatingly rich. 

I didn’t find the plot to be as fast-paced or thrilling as I hoped, but I enjoyed getting to know three unique personalities each with a different background, status, and outlook. The diaspora, loneliness, and need for self-acceptance also play a role in the development of the characters, and I found this made them much easier to relate to, even when I couldn’t agree with their choices. 

Although the ending of the book surprised me, I loved it. It follows the books very honest and open approach, never hiding away from the realities many choose to ignore, but provided the closure needed. It’s heart-breaking, but it’s transparent, and that makes it memorable.

In Every Mirror She's Black

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