Everything Is Not Enough: A Novel

Written by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom

Narrated by Palmira Koukkari Mbenga, Mela Lee and Délé Ogundiran

From Lola Akinmade Åkerström, international bestselling author of In Every Mirror She’s Black, comes the highly anticipated second novel, focusing on the lives of three Black women as they fight their own personal struggles in one of the most egalitarian societies, Sweden.

Can a career woman truly have it all?

Powerful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias Wikström thinks she’s the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to give up his life in Sweden and move to the US for her own comfort. Will Kemi be forced to stay if she wants to keep him while chipping away at her hard-earned career? As things begin to sour and challenge her relationship with Tobias, someone else moves back into the picture.

Can having it all be a gilded cage?

Looking into divorce in Sweden isn’t what former model-turned-flight attendant Brittany-Rae von Lundin anticipated. Only jointly owned assets are split evenly between couples. Brittany gave up her career and came with nothing into Jonny’s kingdom. Having had a child with him, her greatest fear for Maya includes being cut off from the resources she’s become accustomed to. With a man obsessed with a ghost, trying to get away isn’t going to be easy. And the deeper she digs into his past, the darker the secrets she unravels.

Can you run from your past to have it all?

After fleeing her home through a client to seek a new life in Sweden, Yasmiin finds love in the arms of Yagiz Çelik while carving out her own small corner. But as someone from her past forces Yasmiin to become a caretaker before she’s ready, she now must confront and move beyond her teenage history, while following her dreams of becoming a makeup artist.

Everything Is Not Enough follows the loosely intertwined and messy lives of Kemi, Brittany, and Yasmiin as they interrogate themes of place, prejudice, and patriarchy in Europe, proving—yet again—that Lola Akinmade Åkerström is the next great voice of nuanced contemporary women’s fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9780063317000

Lola Akinmade Akerstrom

Nigerian-American and based in Sweden, Lola Akinmade Åkerström is an award-winning author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Sunday Times Travel, The Telegraph, New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Slate, Travel Channel, Adventure Magazine, Lonely Planet, amongst others. In addition to contributing to several books, she is the author of the following books: 2018 Lowell Thomas Award winner for best travel book, Due North, bestselling Lagom: Swedish Secret of Living Well, available in 18 foreign language editions, and internationally-acclaimed In Every Mirror She's Black. She has been recognized with multiple awards for her work, including being named a 2022 Hasselblad Heroine and receiving the 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year Bill Muster Award. She was honored with a MIPAD 100 (Most Influential People of African Descent) Award within media and culture in 2018. She contributed to National Geographic's Image Collection. She is based in Stockholm and tweets at @LolaAkinmade.

Reviews for Everything Is Not Enough

[Simeon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book showed that underneath everything and behind every person, we are all the same.

Well written and it hooks until the end

[Tracie Jones · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Effortlessly continued with vigor. And the light seamless weaving of the characters lives hovering and dancing adjacent to each other exemplified realism. Excellent follow-up novel.

[Rosie John-Baptiste · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I felt it drifted aimlessly and somewhat repetitively in the middle and could have been shortened to maintain momentum. For me, Jonny was the least credible character. The story of his first wife seemed rushed, and incomplete. I was pleased to reach the conclusion and enjoyed the way the author did not leave any loose ends. I’d recommend this as a follow-up to the first book in the series. The multiple storylines and the variety of characters keeps the book interesting and engaging.
I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Chika Anene · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed "Everything is Not Enough" by Lolà Àkinmàdé Åkerström. The characters have always felt very real to me, as if they could exist in real life. At first, I didn't care much for Yasmiin's story the way I did the two others, but then I began getting invested with each turn of a page. Åkerström writes very well, and even though the way the narrative was structured was a bit confusing at first, it was easy to get into once I delved deeper into the story. While I'm sad to be parting with the characters, I'm happy most of them got a worthy end. I'm also comforted by the fact that I can always revisit the books whenever I wish to. I hope to read more from Åkerström in the future.