This book must be published in Swedish immediately. (A recording with readers who are more adept with the Swedish language, and American Southern and Swedish accents should follow closely afterwards. Thus 4 stars for the audiobook, instead of 5.) The various experiences of Afro Swedish women in this book speak into a yawning void in Sweden, where the existence of racism is largely denied.

Even as a white American woman who has immigrated to Sweden, these characters spoke to cultural exclusion I’ve experienced where my (white American) husband thrives. The stark difference being that he was recruited for a high level position (similar to Kemi’s story) and I followed. This puts me in a position closer to Muna’s, where I struggle to find steady employment, despite an American university degree and fluency in English - advantages that Muna doesn’t have.

Outside of Sweden, the loosely intertwined stories of these 3 women remain important and applicable. I appreciate that their stories didn’t ever fully intersect in a way that tied the story up into a neat package. This increased the realism for me, and underlined the honesty of the stories. Brittney-Rae’s story line was a bit too fantastical, but provided an opposing situation to Muna’s darker storyline.

Overall, the author has created multi-faceted characters in complex situations and never shied away from going deep.