Bitter Honey

Akinmade (Everything Is Not Enough) writes in this uneven family drama about a mother’s shattered dreams and the shadows they cast over her daughter. The novel opens in 2006 Stockholm, where Tina, the biracial daughter of a Gambian woman who never knew the identity of her Swedish father, has just been chosen to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. The narrative then rewinds to 1978, when Tina’s mother, Nancy, arrives in Sweden on a scholarship with dreams of becoming the first woman president of Gambia. Her anthropology professor, Lars, intentionally undercuts the work of her boyfriend, Malik, another student in his seminar. After Malik is deported, Nancy becomes vulnerable to the predatory Lars’s machinations. The timelines converge in 2016, as Tina comes to understand why her mother has always treated her so coolly. In alternating chapters, Akinmade teases out the parallels between Tina and Nancy, showing with nuance how they each struggle against men who jeopardize their dreams. Unfortunately, the novel is marred by ponderous pacing and repetitive clichés (men and women often “breathlessly” murmur and “softly” whisper in between cries of “I can’t fix you” and repeated assertions of “I didn’t want to fall for you”). It’s a mixed bag. Agent: Jessica Craig, Craig Literary. (Nov.)