Jesper Humlin is a mildly famous author and poet with lackluster book sales. Not even his editor will support his artistic vision, suggesting that he start writing crime novels instead of poetry. While on a promotional tour, Humlin encounters three women who will change his worldview. All three have fled their home countries and settled in Sweden: Leyla from Iran, Tanya from Russia, and Tea-Bag from Nigeria. The women look to Humlin for guidance in telling their stories, learning how to shape the tales of their journeys and sacrifices. Both social comedy and social tragedy ensue from these efforts, but in the end Humlin, Leyla, Tanya, and Tea-Bag all find that they have helped change one another. The Shadow Girls is an absorbing tale of how a diverse society changes--and is changed by--its citizens, whoever they are.