BOOK EXCERPT: Bitter Honey: A long-kept family secret redefines a mother-daughter relationship

With a mother-daughter relationship at its heart, Bitter Honey explores relationships, resilience and what it means to fully wear your skin and carve your own space in this world.

In Lọlá Ákínmádé’s first standalone novel, 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? Here is an excerpt.

Would it first peel off the skin surrounding them? Would her irises melt into something viscous like honey and her pupils into black tar?

Tina absorbs her reflection in the vanity mirror, which is outlined with bulbous spotlights. The sharp shrill of her phone interrupts the macabre thoughts swirling around in her mind.

“Grattis på din födelsedag,” that familiar voice croons over her tiny flip phone. Happy birthday.

“Hej, Mamma,” Tina says, her nerves settling a little. “Tusen tack.” Thousand thanks.

“How does it feel to be twenty?” her mother Nancy asks, her tone more jovial than normal.

“No different.” Tina adjusts the phone as a makeup artist dabs her bottom lip with neon-pink gloss.

“I’m so nervous right now,” Tina says. Not like me, she thinks as she banks her head to the left for rouge blush.

“God, I hope so,” Tina chuckles. “Look, please no Nancy time, okay? Tobias will pick you up at three. Älska dig.” Love you.

Tina hangs up. Picking Nancy up at three means she’ll be ready by five. Even after twenty years of living here, her mother still refuses to bend to time.

“Drottning,” – queen – the makeup artist flatters after applying rose-gold glitter across her eyebrows. Tina assesses herself in the mirror. Dark eyeliner drawn into a cat-eye look framing honey-coloured eyes, making them more piercing. Her reddish-brown tresses have been flat-ironed silky-straight. The artist has touched up her freckles, darkening the larger ones for effect.

Sweden’s sweetheart. Pop sensation. Musical prodigy. ABBA’s legacy rolled up into a single girl. The kind of accolades the national headlines have been sharing the last two years since she was discovered at a singing competition.

Tina sits cross-legged in black fishnets beneath denim shorts so skimpy they often invoke the sign of the cross. She’s wearing a matching denim vest, unbuttoned with nothing else underneath. On the surface she sits a queen atop her stool, but beneath the glitter and nets, Tina’s nerves are raw. The biggest night of her career thus far. A chance to win Sweden’s beloved Melodifestivalen music competition, on her birthday no less, and potentially represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.