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Bitter Honey

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Bitter Honey

By: Lola Akinmade Akerstrom
Narrated by: Dele Ogundiran, Palmira Koukkari Mbenga
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Bloomsbury presents Bitter Honey by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom, read by Dele Ogundiran and Palmira Koukkari Mbenga.

Two women. Four decades. A lifetime of secrets.

1978: A scholarship draws Nancy from Gambia’s warmth into Sweden’s 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 the nation’s Eurovision pop princess. But beneath her glittery façade, Tina is desperate to discover who she really is. Her mother, Nancy, seems desperate to keep the past under wraps, but will an unexpected figure help open the door?

Spanning four decades and three continents, Bitter Honey is a story of mothers, daughters, and the importance of carving your own path.©2023 Lola Akinmade Akerstrom (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Best of 2025 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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Editorial Review

Two women, two timelines, one unforgettable story
I can't stop thinking about this audiobook. Narrators Délé Ogundiran and Palmira Koukkari Mbenga take turns bringing to life the two dynamic women at the centre of author Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström's novel, which masterfully weaves together the journey of a young Gambian woman navigating 1970s Sweden and her daughter's struggle with fame and identity decades later. The dual timeline brilliantly explores how generational trauma shapes mother-daughter relationships, especially when secrets and cultural displacement are involved. What struck me most was how both women must reclaim their voices and dreams after toxic relationships nearly destroy them. The mixture of melodic Swedish that flows effortlessly from Mbenga, paired with Ogundiran's pitch-perfect Mandinka—a tribal language of Gambia—creates a truly transportive listening experience. —Margaret H., Audible Editor

Critic reviews

An urgent call for empathy, grace and understanding.
There’s an urgent question running through Bitter Honey. What does it mean to parent when your life has been violently derailed by structures beyond your control?
A thrillingly pacey novel with precise historical detail that could be gulped down in just a few sittings.
What stands out most in Bitter Honey is [the] handling of emotional inheritance, more specifically how trauma, silence, and survival strategies are passed from mother to daughter, often wordlessly
Brilliantly compelling…Bitter Honey explores the complexities, rifts and healing aspects of mother-daughter relationships, sisterhood, and how it’s possible to dig deep, summon resilience, and find the strength to make positive transformations. It’s a compulsive read, driven by complex, messy, realistic root-worthy characters.
Lola’s voice and writing offer something magnetic and unmistakably true in a world that increasingly feels like a game of poker
Praise for Lolá Ákínmádé:

'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)
Ákínmádé is a master at shading the gaps between power and love (Chika Unigwe)
A sexy, surprising, searing novel about love, loss, desire, and the many dimensions of Black womanhood. Timely and terrific! (Deesha Philyaw)
Her characters are beautifully drawn and their stories are compelling. I was bewitched. (Christina Patterson, author of Outside, the Sky is Blue)
All stars
Most relevant
What a fantastic book - the characters stay with you and you get emotionally invested. Can’t wait to read the author’s other books

The characters stay with you!!!

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I enjoyed this book having previously read some of Lola’s work which I also loved. Bitter honey covered so many themes from immigration, friendship, love, inter-racial relationships, acceptance, politics, drugs. It is a story that sets out Tina and Nancy’s challenges which in a lot of ways were relatable to readers. The pressures that come with being a celebrity away from lights, camera, action. The story was well woven between Nancy and Tina’s respective worlds.
I look forward to discussing some of the books themes with Lola in our book club meet up soon.

Great book!

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I loved this story it had so many twists and turns. I could not put it down.

Fantastic read

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I loved the narration and the storyline of both characters. some of the queer and historic elements could've been teased out more, including deportation of immigrants and power imbalances in mixed communities, but it was a great listen!

Nancy's story is far more interesting and such a good storyline

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Loved the different themes and the way the author moves through different time periods and the two main characters. Couldn’t stop listening!

Excellent character development!

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