In her second novel, EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH, Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström revisits the interconnected stories of several characters she introduced in her 2021 debut, IN EVERY MIRROR SHE’S BLACK.

Brittany-Rae von Lundin and Kemi Adeyemi are Black women who have moved from the U.S. to Sweden, a country that does not welcome immigrants, particularly immigrants of color, with open arms. Brittany is a former model trapped in an increasingly unhappy marriage to Jonny von Lundin, the scion of one of Sweden’s richest families. Kemi uprooted her life for a job with Jonny’s marketing company, only to discover that she’s been hired more for the color of her skin than for her considerable business expertise.

"Åkerström skillfully interweaves the stories of her three main characters, whose lives intersect in subtle and surprising ways.... [F]or fans of IN EVERY MIRROR SHE’S BLACK who have been waiting to find out what was next for Kemi, Brittany and Muna, EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH more than delivers."

Brittany and Kemi’s stories are interspersed with chapters from a new point-of-view character, Yasmiin, a refugee from Somalia who’s building a business as a makeup artist and hairstylist. Yasmiin is the former roommate of Muna Saheed, who attempted suicide at the end of Åkerström’s first novel. (Muna also appears as a character, though she spends much of the book in a coma.) Yasmiin has fought to build a stable life for herself in her adopted home, marrying and having a child with Yagiz Çelik, a Turkish immigrant. But she is haunted by her past life as a sex worker in Rome, a line of work that she was forced into out of necessity.

EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH picks up in the immediate aftermath of the events of IN EVERY MIRROR SHE’S BLACK. Those who haven’t read that book will likely find themselves somewhat at sea here, especially when it comes to the details of Muna’s suicide attempt, Brittany’s past with Jonny, and why Brittany and Kemi see each other as frenemies rather than allies. This book truly is a companion piece to Åkerström’s debut as it expands on and gives more depth to her portraits of the multi-faceted experiences of Black women living in an overwhelmingly white European country. (Åkerström herself is a Nigerian-American woman based in Sweden.)

For Kemi, what seemed like a bold career move a few years ago now appears to be a dead-end. She’s shut out of important work projects and invited to meetings just so the company can have a Black face in the room. But the real issue is her relationship with her married colleague, Ragnar Pettersen. An indiscretion at the company holiday party has become the subject of office gossip, with Kemi cast in the role of scheming seductress. Though she dislikes and distrusts Ragnar, Kemi is drawn into a steamy affair with him, despite being in a loving relationship with a kind, mixed-race Swedish man named Tobias. “Ragnar is a virus and she, his host,” Kemi thinks, a comparison she makes repeatedly throughout the book. She fears, with good reason, that Ragnar’s passion for her is rooted in his prejudice and a desire to conquer and possess a strong Black woman.

Brittany is still reeling from her discovery that she’s the doppelgänger of Jonny’s first love, Maya Daniels, and that her husband is “obsessed with a ghost.” The news spurs her attempt to break free of a “lush bubble” that has “morphed into a gilded cage.” But divorcing one of the richest men in Sweden won’t be easy. Things get even more complicated as she begins to uncover the disturbing truth about what really happened to Maya.

Meanwhile, Yasmiin balances visits to Muna’s hospital room with her life as a wife and mother and her burgeoning career. But as she works to leave her painful past behind, she faces new challenges, especially in her marriage. Yagiz is loving but secretive about his business, leading Yasmiin to wonder if she can trust the man she married.

Åkerström skillfully interweaves the stories of her three main characters, whose lives intersect in subtle and surprising ways. Yasmiin, Kemi and Brittany are compelling and richly drawn; their emotions feel raw and real, and their mistakes, when they make them, are all too believable.

The book doesn’t lack for drama, including a surprise pregnancy, a shocking arrest, and a screaming match during a family gathering on a swank private island. It moves through these and other moments briskly, and there are times when it would have been nice if Åkerström had given the story more room to breathe. But for fans of IN EVERY MIRROR SHE’S BLACK who have been waiting to find out what was next for Kemi, Brittany and Muna, EVERYTHING IS NOT ENOUGH more than delivers.