Thanks to Parresia Press for the review copy.
In Every Mirror She’s Black follows the lives of three Black women. Kemi, a successful marketing executive, is lured from the US to Sweden by the CEO of Sweden’s largest marketing firm to help fix a PR crisis. Jonny von Lundin, the CEO of the firm, meets former model turned flight attendant Brittany Rae Johnson on his trip to the US. The attraction soon turns into an obsession and then a relationship and later marriage leading Brittany into wealth, luxury, and privilege she’s uncertain about. Muna Saheed is a refugee from Somalia who lost her entire family and found herself in Sweden living in an institute that helps refugees. After the death of her friend and a man she loves Ahmed, she relocates to try to find her foot on this foreign land and get her citizenship. Through the help of her friends, she finds a cleaning job at Jonny Marketing firm. The book explores the depths of what it means to be a Black Woman navigating a white-dominated society.
This is my first book set in Sweden, and I love that author Lola Akinmade Akerstrom centred on the struggles of three very different Black Women living in Sweden - a predominately white society. In the past year, most of the books I have read that explored the themes of colourism and racism have been set in the US and UK. Here is a thank you message to all authors writing about prejudice and discrimination in other parts of the world.
The book follows the lives of a successful executive, a fashion designer turned flight attendant and a Somalian refugee – I loved that the characters are unsimilar, it made their individual experiences very different yet the same. I was deeply moved by Muna’s story. I am sure her story will live with me for a long time Even though each character’s story is different and unique, the author intricately weaves the story of the women around the CEO of Sweden’s largest marketing firm. And that’s where the book gets very interesting.
The book is a slow burn – carefully painting a bigger picture and drawing the attention of the reader to very relevant issues around friendships, relationships, love, desire, abuse, marriage, discrimination, and gender among others.
The writing is very elegant and easy. The language is light and tactful best describing what it means for Black women to find themselves in a society that pays little or no attention to them.
Comments