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African American/Black Fiction
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New and recommended fiction by African American/Black authors
Updated February 7, 2024
RPL Staff
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While justice sleeps a novel
Abrams, Stacey
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A gripping, complexly plotted thriller set within the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, where a young law clerk finds herself embroiled in a shocking mystery crafted by one of the most preeminent judges in America--from celebrated national...
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Jackal : a novel
Adams, Erin E.
Paper Book
RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW * A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first--and she may not be the last. . . . "I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half<...
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0101817223478
ADE
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE NOMINEE * A NEW YORKER AND NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * GMA BUZZ PICK * A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession, and political corruption from the celebrated author of Stay with Me,...
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Chain-Gang All-Stars
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame
Paper Book
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR
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0101817222363
BKM JOH
Paper Book
"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...
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River sing me home
Shearer, Eleanor
Paper Book
" Rare. Moving. Powerful. This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother's gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery is a remarkable debut. Her search begins with an ending...<...
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0101817252477
BKM SLO
Paper Book
A gripping page-turner from the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: Music professor Bern Hendricks discovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time--his music may have been stolen from a Black Jazz Age prodigy named Josephine Reed....
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0101817946227
BKM TAY
Paper Book
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE, ELLE, OPRAH DAILY, THE WASHINGTON POST, BUZZFEED AND VULTURE "Erudite, intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth's promise, of...
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0101817247071
BRA
Paper Book
FINALIST for the 2024 NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * NPR BEST BOOK OF 2023 * An enchanting Black Southern gothic debut, perfect for readers of Mexican Gothic... "Fresh, haunting...In her roller-coaster ride of a gothic debut novel, Monica Brashears upends expectations at...
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You never know a novel of domestic suspense
Briscoe, Connie
Paper Book
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Black candle women
Brown, Diane Marie
Paper Book
'[An] evocative and tender book . . . everyone who reads it will be enchanted like I was' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader reviewA Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Seen on the Today Show and named a Best Book of the Month by: Shondaland, MS. Magazine, TODAY.com, Reader...
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The New Naturals
Bump, Gabriel.
Paper Book
Critically acclaimed, for readers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, a moving and darkly funny novel about an attempt to found an underground Utopia. An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western...
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The unbroken
Clark, C. L.
Paper Book
***Nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award and a Nebula Award*** EVERY EMPIRE DEMANDS REVOLUTION. Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has...
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Tremor
Cole, Teju.
Paper Book
The new novel from the author of the celebrated Open City - a powerful and masterful exploration of what makes a meaningful life in a world of violence and wonder.
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When no one is watching : a thriller
Cole, Alyssa
Paper Book
An instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLER! "I was knocked over by the momentum of an intense psychological thriller that doesn't let go until the final page. This is a terrific read." - Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author *A Marie Claire Book...
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In it to win it
Cooper, Sharon C.
Paper Book
Spoiled, fickle, and flighty are only a few adjectives that have been used to describe Morgan Redford. She's never had to worry about money, but she's determined to build a career on her own and do something meaningful with her life - by helping children who are aging out of the foster care system....
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All the sinners bleed
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
***GUARDIAN BEST CRIME AND THRILLERS OF 2023*** THE TIMES - THRILLER OF THE MONTH*** *** MAIL ON SUNDAY - BEST NEW FICTION*** FINANCIAL TIMES - BEST NEW CRIME BOOKS*** 'A crackling good police procedural....fresh and exhilarating'...
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The reformatory
Due, Tananarive
Paper Book
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephen Jones as he's sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
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If I survive you
Escoffery, Jonathan
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION. Finalist for the 2023 Pen/Faulkner Award, the DUBLIN Literary Award, the Southern Book Award, and the Gordon Burns Award. Nominated for the 2022 National Book...
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Dr. No
Everett, Percival
Paper Book
The protagonist of Percival Everett's puckish new novel is a brilliant professor of mathematics who goes by Wala Kitu. (Wala, he explains, means 'nothing' in Tagalog, and Kitu is Swahili for 'nothing'. He is an expert on nothing. That is to say, he is an expert, and his area of study is nothing, and...
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The neighbor favor
Forest, Kristina
Paper Book
Shy, bookish, Lily Greene finds escapism in her correspondences with her favourite fantasy author - until he ghosts her. Months later, Lily seeks a date to her sister's wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbour. Little does she know that Nick...
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Maame
George, Jessica
Paper Book
" Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman. It's fair to say that Maddie's life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie...
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The women could fly
Giddings, Megan
Paper Book
"Megan Giddings's prose is brimming with wonder. The Women Could Fly is a candid appraisal of grief, inheritance, and the merits of unruliness." - Raven Leilani Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Deborah Harkness, and Octavia E. Butler, The Women Could...
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Drunk on love
Guillory, Jasmine
Paper Book
'It's no wonder Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon are fans of Jasmine Guillory - she writes the sexiest and smartest romances. This tale . . . ticks all the romcom boxes' Red Magazine Have you discovered New York Times bestseller and...
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Afterlives
Gurnah, Abdulrazak
Paper Book
BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2021 LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2021 "Riveting and heartbreaking ... A compelling novel, one that gathers close all those...
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These toxic things
Hall, Rachel Howzell
Paper Book
A dead woman's cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle. Mickie Lambert creates "digital scrapbooks" for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren't forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie...
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Didn't nobody give a shit what happened to Carlotta
Hannaham, James
Paper Book
"In this 'razor-sharp' and 'dangerously hilarious' novel that ""hooks readers from the beginning"" (Los Angeles Times), a trans woman reenters life on the outside after more than twenty years in a men's prison, over one consequential Fourth of July weekend."
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One summer in Savannah : a novel
Harris, Terah Shelton
Paper Book
"Nothing short of astonishing. The best writers are brave writers, and Harris has proven herself among those ranks." --Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck A compelling debut that glows with bittersweet heart and touching emotion, deeply interrogating questions...
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House of hunger
Henderson, Alexis
Paper Book
NOMINATED FOR BEST HORROR NOVEL in the GOODREADS READERS CHOICE AWARDS... 'A lurid, luscious debauch of a book.' Guardian 'An unforgettable feast of decadence and depravity, House of Hunger cements Henderson's place as one of the great gothic writers...
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The love songs of W.E.B. Du Bois : a novel
Jeffers, HonoreÌe Fanonne
Ebook
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The city we became
Jemisin, N. K.
Paper Book
An instant NYT Bestseller! Four-time Hugo Award-winning author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, the first book in The Great Cities Duology, a crackling tale of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New...
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Light seekers
Kayode, Femi
Paper Book
Selected as a Best Crime Novel of the Month by The Times, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, Observer, Financial Times and Irish Times. Chosen as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month 'Lightseekers is the type of...
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Lone women : a novel
LaValle, Victor
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Blue skies, empty land--and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an "absorbing, powerful" (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of...
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Scatterlings : a novel
Manenzhe, Rešoketšwe
Paper Book
A BEST NEW BOOK from *Vanity Fair *The Root *Vulture *People *The Washington Post *Christian Science Monitor *Los Angeles Times *Essence A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Pick! A New Yorker Best Book of the Year! A lyrical, moving novel in the spirit of...
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The Jigsaw man
Matheson, Nadine
Paper Book
'I would give this more stars if I could. For a debut novel, in this genre, this is simply brilliant, the twists & turns you go through keep you on the edge of your seat, I couldn't put this down!!' Reader review 'Wow wow wow is all I can say. This book is brilliant . . . such a page...
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The god of good looks
Mc Ivor, Breanne
Paper Book
Sometimes you need to clash to make an impact. Bianca Bridge is like an eyeshadow palette. She's a vibrant kaleidoscope of big personality and even bigger dreams, with a tendency towards messiness and fallout. Case in point: ruining her career prospects and hopes...
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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...
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The fortune men
Mohamed, Nadifa
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022 'Chilling and utterly compelling, The Fortune Men shines an essential light on a much...
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The memory librarian : and other stories of dirty computer
Monaae, Janelle
Paper Book
In The Memory Librarian music, fashion, film and futurist icon Janelle Monáe returns to the Afrofuturistic world of her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer, to explore how different threads of liberation - queerness, race, gender plurality, love - become tangled in a totalitarian landscape......
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Small worlds
Nelson, Caleb Azumah
Paper Book
The one thing that can solve Stephen's problems is dancing. Dancing at Church, with his parents and brother, the shimmer of Black hands raised in praise; he might have lost his faith, but he does believe in rhythm. Dancing with his friends, somewhere in a basement with the drums about to drop, while...
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On rotation
Obuobi, Shirlene
Paper Book
'Sexy, fun and smart' BETH O'LEARY, author of THE FLATSHARE 'I couldn't put down On Rotation, and you won't be able to, either... I personally couldn't get enough' MEG CABOT Angie has checked off all the boxes for the Perfect Immigrant...
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Take my hand
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen
Paper Book
'Shot through with spirit and hope, it's one hell of a book' Stylist, Books You Can't Miss in 2022A nurse at the Family Planning Clinic in Montgomery Alabama, Civil Townsend is passionate about putting choice into women's hands. She brings the option of birth control to their doorsteps...
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0101818004174
PLA
Paper Book
In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers--one white, one Black--living in a "perfect" suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America's all-too-familiar racial...
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Honey girl
Rogers, Morgan
Paper Book
Named Most Anticipated of 2021 by Oprah Magazine * Marie Claire * Ms. Magazine * E! * Parade Magazine * Buzzfeed * Cosmo * The Rumpus * GoodReads * Autostraddle * Brit & Co * Refinery29 * Betches * BookRiot and others! A...
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Before I let go
Ryan, Kennedy
Paper Book
'Real, raw, magnificent - Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read' COLLEEN HOOVER Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love had its limits . . it couldn't...
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0101817199504
SF COLL. AF831A
Paper Book
Winner of the 2023 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology Winner of the 2023 Locus Award for Best Anthology A 2023 NAACP Image Award Nominee A 2023 British Fantasy Award Nominee A NPR Best of the Year pick A...
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The space between worlds
Johnson, Micaiah
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens the very fabric of the multiverse in this stunning debut, a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging. WINNER OF THE...
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Mademoiselle revolution
Sivak, Zoe
Paper Book
A powerful, engrossing story of a biracial heiress who flees to Paris when the Haitian Revolution burns across her island home. But as she works her way into the inner circle of Robespierre and his mistress, she learns that not even oceans can stop the flames of revolution.
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The fraud
Smith, Zadie
Paper Book
The New York Times bestseller * One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year * One of NPR's Best Books of the Year * Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and BookPage * One of Oprah Daily's Best Novels of 2023 "[A] brilliant...
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Sorrowland
Solomon, Rivers
Paper Book
A TIME 100 Must-Read Book of 2021 A New York Times Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2021 The Stonewall Book Award winner of 2022 Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR, The New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly<...
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Let us descend a novel
Ward, Jesmyn
Paper Book
From Jesmyn Ward--the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow--comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War. "'Let...
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0101817989425
WAS
Paper Book
"Achingly and beautifully etched. . . Washington is a generous and gentle writer, with a profound capacity to face the cruelty and pain of contemporary American life while simultaneously offering his characters--and readers--an expansive space for self-forgiveness, hope, and nourishment."<...
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Crook manifesto a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory. It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards...
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The Last Dreamwalker
Woods, Rita
Paper Book
From Hurston/Wright Legacy Award-winning author Rita Woods, The Last Dreamwalker tells the story of two women, separated by nearly two centuries yet inextricably linked by the Gullah-Geechee Islands off the coast of South Carolina--and their connection to a mysterious and extraordinary...
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