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Black History Month: FICTION |
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The two lives of Sara
by Catherine Adel West
During the racially divided 1960s, a Black young, unwed mother named Sara, working for Mama Sugar at a popular boarding house in Memphis, Tennessee, finds friendship and refuge until secrets from Mama Sugar's are revealed, forcing Sara to make a decision that will reshape the rest of her life. 100,000 first printing.
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The Prophets
by Robert Jones Jr
Best Book of the YearNPR - The Washington Post - Boston Globe - TIME - USA Today - Entertainment Weekly - Real Simple - Parade - Buzzfeed - Electric Literature - LitHub - BookRiot - PopSugar - Goop - Library Journal - BookBub - KCRW - Finalist for the National Book Award- One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year- One of the New York Times Best Historical Fiction of the Year- Instant New York Times Bestseller A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man--a fellow slave--seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries--of ancestors and future generations to come--culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.
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The Rib King
by Ladee Hubbard
Thrillist - 30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021Book Riot - Our Most Anticipated Releases of 2021Real Simple - The Best New Books to Read in 2021Chicago Review of Books - 12 Must-Read Books of January Book Riot - January 2021 Horoscopes and Book Recommendations Glamour--7 of the Best New Books in JanuaryVulture - 46 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021 Lit Hub - Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021 GMA.com - 16 January reads for the new year Harper's Bazaar - 24 Books You Need to Read in 2021 -The Millions - Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2021 Book Preview Popsugar - From Bravery to Outlawed - These Are the Best Books of January 2021 Ms. Magazine - January 2021 Reads for the Rest of Us Bustle - The Best New Books, Week of January 18th Vulture - 27 Notable New Releases Over the Next Two Weeks Lit Hub - 14 new books to fuel your reading resolutions Ultimately thereason to read The Rib King is not its timeliness or its insight into politicsor Black culture, but because it accomplishes what the best fiction sets out todo: It drops you into a world you could not otherwise visit and makes you caredeeply about what happens there.--BookPage (starred review)The acclaimed authorof The Talented Ribkins deconstructs painful African American stereotypes andoffers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition, exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven andmasterfully executed historical novel, set in early the twentieth century thatcenters around the black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class whitefamily.For fifteen yearsAugust Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do white family whoplucked him from an orphan asylum and gave him a job. The groundskeeper is partof the household's all-black staff, along with Miss Mamie, the talented cook, pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices--the latestorphan boys Mr. Barclay has taken in to civilize boys like August.But the Barclaysfortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospectivebusiness associate proposes selling Miss Mamie's delicious rib sauce to localmarkets under the brand name The Rib King--using a caricature of a wildlygrinning August on the label--Mr. Barclay, desperate for cash, agrees. Yetneither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. Humiliated, August growsincreasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shockingtragedy. Elegantly written andexhaustively researched, The Rib King is an unsparing examination of America'sfascination with black iconography and exploitation that redefines AfricanAmerican stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timelynovel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, whoand what they are not.
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The Sweetness of Water
by Nathan Harris
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox--
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Harlem Shuffle
by Colson Whitehead
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, this gloriously entertaining novel is fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny ... about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel (San Francisco Chronicle).Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked... To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time. Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa--the Waldorf of Harlem--and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle's ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem. But mostly, it's a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.
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Yonder
by Jabari Asim
The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-nineteenth century--
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Let Us Descend (Oprah's Book Club)
by Jesmyn Ward
Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader's guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.--
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The American Daughters
by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
When Adebimpe is ten, she is sold with her mother Sanite to plantation owner John du Marche. He soon renames her Ady but Sanite never lets her daughter forget who she really is: a person who can read and write and understand numbers. Most importantly, Sanite reminds Ady that she must never reveal these abilities to a white person, especially not her true name. Tasked with maintaining du Marche's home in vibrant New Orleans, Ady takes in the city and starts to envision life beyond her dire circumstances. One day, she notices a beautiful stranger, radiant and poised with a colorful Tignon wrapped regally around her head. Ady realizes that she is a Free Woman. Inexplicably drawn to her, but not knowing who she is or what she does, Ady begins to search for answers--
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James (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
by Percival Everett
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view - In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER - NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST - SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more. Genius--The Atlantic - A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own.--Chicago Tribune - A provocative, enlightening literary work of art.--The Boston Globe - Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful.--The New York Times When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon,this brilliant and tender novel radicallyilluminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
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All We Were Promised
by Ashton Lattimore
The paths of three young Black women in pre-Civil War Philadelphia unexpectedly and dangerously collide in this dramatic debut novel inspired by the explosive history of a city at war with itself. ... Inspired by the untold history of Pennsylvania Hall, one of Philadelphia's landmarks lost to violence, [this book tells] the story of ... the rebel, the socialite, and the fugitive fighting for each other in an American city straining to live up to its loftiest ideals--
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The Unicorn Woman
by Gayl Jones
FINALIST FOR THE 2025 PULITZER PRIZE IN FICTION One of our greatest living authors.--Lauren LeBlanc, The Boston Globe Marking a dramatic new direction for Jones, a riveting tale set in the Post WWII South, narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal Set in the early 1950s, this latest novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not in glory, but into their Jim Crow communities. A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he's a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love. As he moves around the south, from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, primarily, to his second home of Memphis, Tennessee, he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and encounters with a variety of colorful characters and mythical prototypes: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, and bigots. The lead among these characters is, of course, The Unicorn Woman, who exists, but mostly lives in Bud's private mythology. Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of Black (and Indigenous) people in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope.
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In a League of Her Own
by Kaia Alderson
An ambitious Harlem woman's husband upends her social climbing when he buys a Negro Leagues baseball team and appoints her as the team's business manager. Overnight, Effa Manley goes from 125th Street's civil rights champion to an interloper in the boys' club that is professional baseball. Navigating her way through gentlemen's agreement contracts, the very public flirtatious antics of superstar Satchel Paige, and a sports world that would much rather see this woman back in her 'place' at home, Effa ultimately whips her team, the Newark Eagles, into the Negro Leagues Champions of 1946--
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The Unexpected Diva
by Tiffany L. Warren
Beautifully crafted and captivating.This triumphant tale is sure to be an instant classic.--Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Personal LibrarianHow do we not all know the name of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield? The story of this brilliant singer -- a Black woman born enslaved who performed both sides of the Atlantic in the years before and during the Civil War -- is finally given its just due. --Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author of The First LadiesBefore the Civil War, Black opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield reigned supreme on Northern stages--even performing at Buckingham Palace. Novelist Tiffany L Warren brings this remarkable but forgotten diva's remarkable story to life for modern readers.Born into slavery on a Mississippi plantation, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield has been raised in the safety of Philadelphia's Quaker community by a wealthy adoptive mother. Sheltered and educated, Eliza's happy childhood always included music lessons to nurture her unique gift: a glorious three octave singing voice that leaves listeners in awe. But on the eve of her twenty-fourth birthday, young Eliza's world is thrown into a tailspin when her mother dies.Eliza's inheritance is contested by her mother's white cousins, leaving her few options. She can marry her longtime beau, Lucien, though she has no desire to be a wife and mother. Or she can work as a tutor for rich families. Her mother's dying wish was for Eliza to pursue her talent and become a professional singer, but that grand vision now seems out of reach.When a chance performance on a steamboat to Buffalo, New York, leads to a surprising opportunity, fearless Eliza seizes her moment. Within a year she is touring America, singing to packed houses, and igniting controversy wherever she goes. In a country captivated by the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind, Eliza is billed by tour promoters as the Black Swan. An unlikely diva, Eliza is tall, dark-skinned, and robust of figure compared to the petite European prima donna, but even the harshest critics can't deny Eliza's extraordinary gift. Menaced by racist crowds, threatened by slave-catchers who kidnap free Black people, Eliza lives a public life full of risk, but one which also holds the promise of great riches, and the freedoms those buy.From the churches of Philadelphia to Queen Victoria's salon in Buckingham Palace, Eliza Greenfield will blaze her own path--with a voice that no listener will ever forget.
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Let Us March on
by Shara Moon
Devoted wife, White House maid, reluctant activist... A stirring novel inspired by the life of an unsung heroine, and real-life crusader, Lizzie McDuffie, who, as a maid in FDR's White House, spearheaded the Civil Rights movement of her time.--
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The Sable Cloak
by Gail Milissa Grant
In this atmospheric novel set in the Jim Crow South, a powerful Black family fights to protect their empire--an unforgettable must-read for readers of Tayari Jones (Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling author). Jordan Sable, a prosperous undertaker turned political boss, has controlled the Black vote in St. Louis for decades. Sara, his equally formidable wife, runs the renowned funeral establishment that put the Sable name on the map. Together they have pushed through obstacles in order to create a legacy for their children. When tragedy bursts their carefully constructed empire of dignity and safety, the family rallies around an unconventional solution. But at what cost? Set in the Midwest in the 1940s, The Sable Cloak is a rarely seen portrait of an upper middle class, African American family in the pre-Civil Rights era. This deeply personal novel inspired by the author's own family history delves into legacy and the stories we tell ourselves, and celebrates a largely self-sustaining, culturally rich Missouri community that most Americans may not be aware of.
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Zeal
by Morgan Jerkins
A multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love--
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The Devil Three Times
by Rickey Fayne
Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination, Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form--the Devil himself. The Devil, seeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heaven, decides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice. Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde's mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits Yetunde's descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, who passes for white; Louis and Virgil, who risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, who speaks to the dead; James, who struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too?--
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These Heathens
by Mia McKenzie
From the razor-sharp and outrageously funny (Taylor Jenkins Reid) mind of Mia McKenzie comes a vibrant novel exploring how one weekend can change your whole life. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL AND THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE - A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Dear Lord, please forgive me for the sins I've committed. And for the one I'm still planning to commit tomorrow. Amen. Where do you get an abortion in 1960 Georgia, especially if your small town's midwife goes to the same church as your parents? For seventeen-year-old Doris Steele, the answer is Atlanta, where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help. While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia's orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages ofJetandEbony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists And even more shocking? Mrs. Lucas seems right at home. From the guests at a queer kickback to the student activists at a SNCC conference, Doris suddenly finds herself surrounded by so many people who seem to know exactly who or what they want. Doris knows she doesn't want a baby, but whatdoesshe want? Will this trip help her find out? These Heathensis a funny, poignant story about Black women's obligations and ambitions, what we owe to ourselves, and the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend.
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This Here Is Love
by Princess Joy L. Perry
Longlisted for the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Historical Fiction Books of 2025 A Library Journal Best Book of the Year A luscious storyteller, Princess Joy L. Perry brings to light the profound moral and emotional dilemmas her characters face, making the reader feel the weight of their impossible choices and everyday courage. A fierce and luminous debut. --Sheri Reynolds, author of The Rapture of Canaan and The Tender Grave Three people--two enslaved, one indentured--living beside each other, struggling against their circumstances, trying to bend destiny.
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Amity
by Nathan Harris
New Orleans, 1866. The Civil War might be over, but formerly enslaved Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they've been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr. Harper, took June away to Mexico, where he hoped to escape the new reality of the postbellum South. Coleman stayed behind in Louisiana to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that one day June would return. When an unexpected letter from Mr. Harper arrives, summoning Coleman to Mexico, Coleman thinks that finally his prayers have been answered. What Coleman cannot know is the tangled truth of June's tribulations under Mr. Harper out on the frontier. And when disaster strikes Coleman's journey, he is forced on the run with Mr. Harper's daughter Florence--
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With Love from Harlem: A Novel of Hazel Scott
by Reshonda Tate
From The Queen of Sugar Hill author ReShonda Tate - a new novel inspired by beloved Harlem jazz performer Hazel Scott and the equal parts exhilarating and tumultuous relationship that changed the course of her life-- Provided by publisher.
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Harlem rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray
In 1919 Harlem, literary editor Jessie Redmon Fauset is at the forefront of a Black cultural renaissance, discovering talents like Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen, but her ambition and a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois threaten her legacy.
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Across the way
by Mary Monroe
Tensions between the bootlegging Hamiltons and the respectable Watson families in Depression-era Alabama reach a boiling point that leads to lies, deceit and violence, in the finale of the Neighbors series. By a New York Times best-selling author.
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Their eyes were watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
When Janie Starks returns home, the small black community buzzes with gossip about the outcome of her affair with a younger man
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The life of Herod the Great : a novel
by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's unpublished novel offers a reimagined portrayal of Herod the Great, not as the notorious villain of the New Testament, but as a philosophical and visionary king who brought prosperity to Judea during a tumultuous period of war and imperial expansion in the first century BCE.
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Junie : a novel
by Erin Crosby Eckstine
Sixteen-year-old slave Junie tends to master's daughter Violet at Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, but when Violet's potential marriage leads Junie to commit a desperate act that rouses sister Minnie's spirit, she enlists coachman Caleb's help as horrifying secrets are revealed.
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Delicious foods : a novel
by James Hannaham
A young widow with an addiction is lured away to a remote farm by a shady company called Delicious Foods, where she is held captive and forced into hard labor while she struggles to become reunited with her young son. 20,000 first printing.
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The water dancer : a novel
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Virginia slave narrowly escapes a drowning death through the intervention of a mysterious force that compels his escape and personal underground war against slavery. By the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me. (historical fiction). (This book was listed in a previous issue of Forecast.) Tour.
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Don't cry for me : a novel
by Daniel Black
On his deathbed, a dying black man writes a letter to his estranged, gay son and shares with him the truth that lives in heart and tries to create a place where the pair can find peace. 75,000 first printing.
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Ramadan Ramsey : a novel
by Louis Edwards
When Ramadan Ramsey, the son of a ninth generation New Orleans African American and a Syrian refugee, turns 17, he sets off to find the father he has never known—an adventure-filled journey filled that takes him from NOLA to Egypt, Istanbul and finally Syria. 20,000 first printing.
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Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Two half-sisters, unknown to each other, are born into different villages in 18th-century Ghana and experience profoundly different lives and legacies throughout subsequent generations marked by wealth, slavery, war, coal mining, the Great Migration and the realities of 20th-century Harlem.
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The edge of yesterday
by Rita Woods
"The Edge of Yesterday is a haunting contemporary speculative novel about time travel and finding yourself from award-winning author Rita Woods. Greer Coffey is a principal dancer with a renowned Harlem company. Sebastian Coffey is an architect with a prestigious Midtown firm. The Coffey's are the ultimate dream couple - until their world completely unravels. After Greer develops a career ending neurologic disorder, she finds herself back in her hometown of Detroit. Angry, lonely, her marriage buckling under the strain, she takes to aimlessly wandering the city streets. One night, she stumbles through a vortex, a portal through time that transports her back into 1925 Detroit, where she meets a handsome, charming doctor. Dr. Montgomery Gray is a member ofDetroit's Black Aristocracy, wealthy and connected to some of the most powerful Black families in the country. Detroit in 1925 is the beating heart of an industrial nation, but it is also a tinderbox of poor immigrants, Prohibition driven gang wars, and the Klan. As a member of the Talented Tenth, Monty is expected to be the tip of the spear in the fight for the Race, no matter the cost. Exhausted, frustrated, and longing to break free of expectations, he is stunned to find a woman from the future roaming Detroit's Black Bottom. Initially cautious, Monty and Greer slowly grow increasingly exhilarated with the visits. For Greer, 1925 offers an escape from the sorrow of her "real life," and for Monty, the future that Greer lays before him is irresistible. But 2025 becomes gradually less and less recognizable, as each visit back through time causes increasing rips in the timeline. Ultimately, Greer finds herself trapped in 1925 and Monty is forced into a deadly confrontation that changes the trajectory of his life"
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Ours
by Phillip B. Williams
Sweeping through 1830s Arkansas to rescue enslaved people, Saint, a fearsome conjuror, creates a town magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours, but, over time, as the town becomes vulnerable to intruders, some people wonder whether the community's safety might by yet another form of bondage.
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A right worthy woman : a novel
by Ruth P. Watson
Describes the true story of the determined daughter of a 19th century laundress who was dismayed by the racial disparities in Richmond, Virginia and worked to found a newspaper, bank and department store where black customers were treated with respect.
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Night wherever we go : a novel
by Tracey Rose Peyton
To protect themselves, six enslaved women meet in the woods under the cover of night to formulate a plan against the plantation owners who have decided to turn around their Texas plantation's bleak financial prospects by making the women bear children. 75,000 first printing.
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Frederick Douglass : a novel
by Sidney Morrison
"Sidney Morrison has skillfully written an epic novel of historical fiction based on the life and times of Fredrick Douglass. Although Douglass wrote three autobiographies, he included scant details of his personal life with his wife, Anna Murray Douglass, and five children; his lengthy relationship with English abolitionist, Julia Griffiths; followed by an extensive relationship with Ottilie Assing, a German reporter then living in the United States who died by suicide shortly after the death of Anna Douglass and Frederick's remarriage to his younger white secretary, Helen Pitts. Morrison deftly constructs a psychologically complex portrait of the historical icon who lived during a perilous time in American history before and after the Civil War as an enslaved man who escaped tyranny and established himself as an extraordinary orator, intellectual, writer, newspaper owner and editor As United States Marshall of the District of Columbia, Frederick Douglass was the first African American confirmed for a presidential appointment by the U.S. Senate. He then served as minister and consul general to Haiti. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln after the Emancipation Proclamation left Andrew Johnson in the White House while the South descended into chaos, disenfranchisement of Blacks, and terror during Reconstruction. Douglass' fierce crusading continued and he was fundamental in achieving voting rights for Black men. In 1895 Frederick Douglass died suddenly renowned as the nation's most recognized Black activist. Despite Douglass' significant contributions, Reconstruction failed to establish Black equality. One hundred and twenty years later white supremacy continues to occupy the American psyche and impact modern politics on flagrant display during President Barack Obama's two terms and the subsequent Trump years. After the murder of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter continues the activism inspired by the words and example of one of the Founders of the movement, Frederick Douglass"
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The American queen : a novel
by Vanessa Miller
In the 1969 South, enslaved woman Louella marries a reverend and leads her people off the plantation, starting her own self-proclaimed kingdom.
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Mad blood stirring
by Simon Mayo
A tale inspired by the remarkable story of the first all-black Shakespeare production follows the arrival of a crew of war-ravaged sailors in 1814 Dartmoor prison, where segregated inmates fight to survive an entirely different type of conflict.
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Trinity : a novel
by Zelda Lockhart
In a story of the daughter-spirit born to stitch love back into the scattered wombs of her black mothers, Lottie Rebecca Lee proves she is the ancestors' promise to expose the Mississippi and Ghanaian atrocities that have tormented her family for generations and set everything back up right again.
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A woman of endurance : a novel
by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
A deeply spiritual African woman is captured and sold to a Puerto Rican plantation to breed future slaves and is almost destroyed by the dehumanization of her circumstances but embarks on a journey of healing and love. 40,000 first printing.
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The secret diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho : a novel
by Paterson Joseph
In 1746 Georgian London, Charles Ignatius Sancho, a young Black man and escaped slave, after an unexpected twist of fate, meets the king, writes and plays highly acclaimed music, becomes the first Black person to vote in Britain and leads the fight to end slavery. 75,000 first printing.
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The unicorn woman
by Gayl Jones
A tale set in the post-World War II South is narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal.
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Palmares
by Gayl Jones
In a world impacted by greed, conquest and colonial desire, Almeyda, a Black slave girl who, after a fugitive slave settlement called Palmares is destroyed, embarks on a life-altering journey across Brazil to find her husband, lost in battle.
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The known world
by Edward P. Jones
When a plantation proprietor and former slave--now possessing slaves of his own--dies, his household falls apart in the wake of a slave rebellion and corrupt underpaid patrollers who enable free black people to be sold into slavery.
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Zeal : a novel
by Morgan Jerkins
"The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love"
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The attic child : a novel
by Lola Jaye
Two children locked away in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret, discover beneath its floorboards clues that provide comfort, when all hope is lost, to break free from their confinement and leave the darkness behind. 75,000 first printing.
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The thread collectors : a novel
by Shaunna J. Edwards
In 1863, a young black woman, who embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army, crosses paths with a Jewish seamstress who helps her discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us. 10,000 first printing.
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Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan
Unexpectedly chosen to be a family manservant, an 11-year-old Barbados sugar-plantation slave is initiated into a world of technology and dignity before a devastating betrayal propels him throughout the world in search of his true self.
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House of shades : a novel
by Lianne Dillsworth
In 1833 London, doctress Hester Reeves leaves her husband and son behind in Kings Cross to accept a life-changing commission to cure the ailing owner of a large estate in Fitzrovia, where uncovers long-hidden and life-changing secrets. 25,000 first printing.
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Moon and the Mars
by Kia Corthron
Set in the impoverished Five Points district of New York City in the years 1857-1863, this novel is told through the eyes of Theo, an orphan living between the homes of her Black and Irish grandparents, as the nation divides and marches to war.
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Africaville : a novel
by Jeffrey Colvin
Three generations of a family of former slaves, the founders of a small Nova Scotia community, navigate prejudice, harsh weather and estrangements against a backdrop of the historical events of the 20th century. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.
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The ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye : a novel
by Briony Cameron
An indentured servant to the infamous Blackhand, a ruthless pirate captain, Jacquotte, as she struggles to survive his brutality, must rely on her wits, resourcefulness and friends when she discovers treachery at play, forcing her to decide what price she's willing to pay to secure a better future for them all.
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