African American Fiction

Updated January 14, 2026
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Things fall apart
Achebe, Chinua.
Paper Book
"A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world." --Barack Obama "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe." --Toni Morrison "A...
If Beale Street could talk
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
A stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime--"a moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless" (The New York Times Book Review). * Also a major motion...
Ruby : a novel
Bond, Cynthia
Paper Book
The newest Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection The epic, unforgettable story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her--this beautiful and devastating debut heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.   Ephram...
Fledgling : a novel
Butler, Octavia E.
Ebook
Fledgling, Octavia Butler's last novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life...
Kindred
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
One of the 100 best novels ever published in English (The Guardian), most consequential novels of the past 100 years (The Atlantic), most essential books published in the U.S. since 1776 (Publishers Weekly) Experience the novel that redefined American literature...
Parable of the sower
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
From a celebrated, award-winning author, a modern classic about a young girl fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, perfect for fans of N.K. Jemisin and Margaret Atwood. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and...
The catch : a novel
Daley-Ward, Yrsa
Paper Book
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. As infants they were adopted into different families, Clara sent to live with a successful, upper-class couple, and Dempsey with a sullen, unaffectionate city...
Needy little things
Desamours, Channelle
Paper Book
BLACK CAUCUS OF THE ALA - CHILDREN & YOUTH LITERARY AWARDS WINNER In this debut speculative YA mystery, a Black teen with premonition-like powers must solve her friend's disappearance before she finds herself in the same danger, perfect for fans of Ace of Spades.
The business of lovers
Dickey, Eric Jerome
Paper Book
Unlike their younger brother Andre, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to...
Bad Men and Wicked Women
Dickey, Eric Jerome.
Ebook
Affairs of the heart can be lethal in this sensual, action packed novel from New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey. As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger, but nowhere does he feel it more than in his tangled romances. Divorced...
Resurrecting midnight
Dickey, Eric Jerome.
Paper Book
Hot on the heels of his bestselling noir-inspired series featuring the assassin Gideon, Dickey returns with another sizzler reminiscent of his earlier works that is sure to delight fans and newcomers alike. Set amidst the exotic and vibrant streets of Miami and Buenos Aires, Resurrecting Midnight is...
Junie : a novel
Eckstine, Erin Crosby
Paper Book
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * As the Civil War looms, a young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister's ghost in this "poignant story of love, family and friendship [that] celebrates the power of liberation" (People). "An...
Invisible man
Ellison, Ralph.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. One of The Atlantic<...
Drunk on love
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
An intoxicating and sparkling new romance by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory. Margot Noble needs some relief from the stress of running the family winery with her brother. Enter Luke: sexy, charming, and best of all in the too-small world of Napa, a...
The proposal : a novel
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise -- or happen in front of 45,000 people.
The wedding date
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in this fun and flirty multicultural romance debut by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory--author of the Resse Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick The Proposal....
Transcendent kingdom
Gyasi, Yaa
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! * Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama...
A raisin in the sun
Hansberry, Lorraine
Paper Book
"Never before, the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959. Indeed Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the...
Their eyes were watching God
Hurston, Zora Neale.
Paper Book
"A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don't know how to live properly."--Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century,...
Black leopard, red wolf
James, Marlon
Paper Book
"A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made." --Neil Gaiman "Gripping, action-packed....The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In this epic, internationally bestselling novel from Marlon...
Zeal : a novel
Jerkins, Morgan
Paper Book
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. Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the...
Deacon King Kong
McBride, James
Paper Book
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction   Winner of the Gotham Book Prize One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year" Oprah's Book Club Pick New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
Sweetgrass
Monroe, Mary Alice.
Ebook
The New York Times-bestselling author paints an intimate portrait of a family's struggle to come together and protect their historic South Carolina home. Sweetgrass is a historic tract of land in South Carolina that has been home to the Blakely family for eight generations...
Family of lies
Monroe, Mary.
Audiobook
New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe weaves a stunning portrait of a family immersed in deceit--and the women whose happiness depends on the secrets they keep ... After growing up poor in Texas, Vera Lomax used every gold-digging trick in the book to land a rich...
The art of desire
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
One doomed love affair after another has made lovely Alex Walton swear off men. Now, she's determined to try something that maybe she can succeed at: a writing career. Little does she know that a chance meeting with a strikingly handsome stranger, a mysterious obelisk, and a lost kingdom will change...
Power of persuasion
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
A.J. Grayson has come a long way from adopted orphan to fast-rising executive at a cutting-edge technology firm. Now an anti-terrorist agency wants to use the revolutionary artificial intelligence system she developed to thwart a plot against Jafir's monarchy - and handsome, dynamic Damon Toca, the...
Reckless : a novel
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author and political leader Stacey Abrams, writing under her pen name Selena Montgomery, tells an unforgettable story of a high-powered Atlanta lawyer who is forced to confront her painful past and prove her innocence to the man she loves. Kell Jameson has the...
Beloved
Morrison, Toni.
Ebook
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This "powerful, mesmerizing story" (People) is an unflinching look into the abyss of slavery, from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner. With an afterword by the author and a new introduction by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers....
The bluest eye
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME * From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtlety and grace. * With a new introduction by Jacqueline...
Jazz
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner, a passionate, profound story of love and obsession based on the hopes, fears, and deep realities of Black urban life. With a foreword by the author. "As rich in themes and poetic images as her Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved.......
Love
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a spellbinding symphony of passion and hatred, power and perversity, color and class that spans three generations of Black women in a fading beach town. "A marvelous work, which enlarges our conception not only of love but of racial...
Paradise
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
Make it easy on yourself, read #1 bestselling author Toni Morrison in Large Print * About Large Print All Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typeface "Rumors had been whispered for more than a year. Outrages that had been accumulating all along took shape as evidence. A...
Trouble is what I do
Mosley, Walter
Paper Book
Morally ambiguous P.I. Leonid McGill is back -- and investigating crimes against society's most downtrodden -- in this installment of the beloved detective series from an Edgar Award-winning and bestselling crime novelist. Leonid McGill's spent a...
Bad Boy Brawly Brown
Mosley, Walter.
Ebook
Easy Rawlins is trying to stay as far from crime and its consequences as a black man can in 1964 L.A.--but trouble still finds a way to his door. An old friend asks Easy to find his stepson, Brawly Brown, a good kid gone angry and missing. Too quickly Easy finds himself riding...
Fortunate son
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune. Tommy is a lame black boy, cursed with health problems, yet he remains optimistic and strong.After tragedy rips their makeshift family apart,...
Little green : an Easy Rawlins mystery
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
When Walter Mosley burst onto the literary scene in 1990 with his first Easy Rawlins mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress--a combustible mixture of Raymond Chandler and Richard Wright--he captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of readers (including future president Bill Clinton). Eleven...
Riot baby
Onyebuchi, Tochi
Paper Book
Winner of the 2021 World Fantasy AwardWinner of an 2021 ALA Alex Award Winner of the 2020 New England Book Award for FictionWinner of the 2021 Ignyte AwardWinner of the 2021 AABMC Literary Award A 2021 Finalist for...
Happy land
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen
Paper Book
A 2026 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American Kingdom--and her family's ties to it--in this enthralling novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
Now a Broadway musical featuring Jennifer Hudson Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the National Book Award   Published to unprecedented acclaim, The Color Purple established Alice...
Good dirt : a novel
Wilkerson, Charmaine
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick "Engrossing . . . Wilkerson...

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