Black History Month Featured Fiction

Black History Month invites us to honor the voices that have shaped culture, challenged convention, and expanded the possibilities of storytelling. The works in this collection come from Black authors whose fiction spans eras, genres, and worlds—yet all share a commitment to illuminating the richness and complexity of Black life. This month is the perfect moment to explore them, revisit them, or discover them for the first time.

Updated January 30, 2026
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All the sinners bleed
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * USA Today Bestseller * Washington Post's The Twelve Best Thrillers of the Year * TIME's 100 Must Read Books of the Year * Goodreads Choice Award Nominee * USA Today's Best Reviewed Books of the Year * BookPage's Best...
Archangels of funk : episodes from the continuing drama of Cinnamon Jones: scientist, artiste, and hoodoo conjurer
Hairston, Andrea
Paper Book
Run from your past. Hide from your future. Protect your present. The Water Wars have scrambled the world. Flood refugees are on the run. Disrupters and the nostalgia militia roam the roads wreaking havoc. Invisible Darknet Lords troll the internet, solidifying their power,...
Been wrong so long it feels like right
Mosley, Walter
Paper Book
In the latest from "mystery master" Walter Mosley, a family member's terminal illness leads P.I. Joe King Oliver to the investigation of his life: tracking down his long-lost father, and meanwhile, a new case pits King's professional responsibility against his own moral code. (The...
Bent but not broken
Monroe, Mary
Paper Book
As a young woman, Naomi Simmons grabbed her one chance to escape the overwhelming demands of her selfish family by marrying devout older man Jacob Purcell. But it only landed her with a controlling, unfaithful husband who delights in hurling insults at her and their troubled now-teenage daughter,...
Black cake : a novel
Wilkerson, Charmaine
Paper Book
NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * Two estranged siblings delve into their mother's hidden past--and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake--in this immersive family saga, "a...
Can't get enough
Ryan, Kennedy
The dark maestro : a novel
Slocumb, Brendan
Paper Book
His cello made him famous. His father made him a target. "In this perfectly crafted thriller, Slocumb acts as the master conductor, bringing together a twisty plot and gorgeously wrought characters." -The Boston Globe Curtis Wilson is a cello prodigy, growing...
Deus X
Jones, Stephen Mack.
Paper Book
Father Michael Grabowski, a Franciscan priest who has tended the spiritual needs of Detroit's Mexicantown for forty years, has suddenly retired. August Snow, who has known the priest his whole life, finds the circumstances troubling - especially in light of the recent suspicious suicide of another...
The filling station : a novel
Miller, Vanessa
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER! · A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS OF 2025 PICK · A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE PICK FOR 2025 · A heart wrenching and hopeful novel from the bestselling author of The American Queen "Absolutely worthy." --Booklist, starred review "Should be required...
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...
Guide me home
Locke, Attica
Paper Book
In this stunning culmination of the award-winning Highway 59 trilogy, Detective Darren Mathews is pulled out of an early retirement to investigate the case of a missing black college student from an all-white sorority--and soon finds a town that will stop at nothing to keep its secrets hidden&...
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...
Harlem shuffle
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
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...
Harriet Tubman: live in concert : a novel
Bob, the Drag Queen
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2025 by Pride * Best New Books of Spring 2025 by Bustle * Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by LitHub * Biggest Books of March by Book Riot * Most Anticipated Books of March by...
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
McBride, James
Paper Book
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the...
The House of Eve
Johnson, Sadeqa.
Ebook
"Amazing...I was completely surprised by the ending of this beautifully told and written book." --Reese Witherspoon "A triumph of historical fiction" (The Washington Post), an instant New York Times bestseller, and a Reese's Book Club pick, set in 1950s...
King of ashes : a novel
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Propulsive and powerful. . . A gripping roller coaster ride of escalating danger." --New York Times Book Review"Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about." --The Atlantic...
The love lyric
Forest, Kristina
Paper Book
An R&B singer and a corporate executive find love that hits the right notes in this USA Today bestselling romance by Kristina Forest. Iris Greene used to be a woman with a plan. But all of that changed after she met the love of her life at twenty-five, got pregnant and...
The mothers : a novel
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community - and the things that ultimately haunt us most. It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, 17-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up...
Real life
Taylor, Brandon
Paper Book
Almost everything about Wallace, an introverted African-American transplant from Alabama, is at odds with the lakeside Midwestern university town where he is studying for a biochem degree. For reasons of self-preservation, he has kept a distance even from his own friends - some dating each other,...
Red at the bone
Woodson, Jacqueline
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "A spectacular novel that only this legend can pull off." -Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of  HOW TO BE AN...
Saving Ruby King A Novel
West, Catherine Adel.
Ebook
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2020 by Ms. Magazine, USA Today Book Riot, The Rumpus, Library Journal, PureWow, The Every Girl, Parade and more. "Forever and to the end. That's what they say instead of I love you." When Ruby King's mother is found murdered in their...
Seven days in June : a novel
Williams, Tia
Paper Book
One of TIME's 50 Best Romances to Read Right Now   "Sumptuous writing" - Sarah Jessica Parker Two writers get a second chance at love in this romantic, sexy-as-hell New York Times bestselling novel.
Sing, unburied, sing : a novel
Ward, Jesmyn
Paper Book
*WINNER of the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for FICTION *A TIME MAGAZINE BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR and A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 OF 2017 *Finalist for the Kirkus Prize *Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal *Finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize...
Swift River
Chambers, Essie
Paper Book
A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK | A National Bestseller | Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award | Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | One of The Washington Post's Best Books of 2024 | An NPR Best Book of 2024 | An Elle Best Book of 2024 | A...
Take My Hand
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen.
Ebook
Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction "Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze...an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption."--Celeste Ng Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a...
That dangerous energy
De León, Aya (Novelist)
Audiobook
The two lives of Sara
West, Catherine Adel
Paper Book
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Ms. Magazine, The Root, Popsugar, Bustle, and many more! "An utterly absorbing and dazzling novel about the stories we tell to stay alive and the secrets we keep to protect ourselves." -- Nancy Jooyoun Kim, New York...
What fire brings : a thriller
Hall, Rachel Howzell
Paper Book
A writer's search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things. Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As...

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