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
James Baldwin's timeless, bestselling novel of love and solidarity in the face of injustice--the beloved classic that inspired the major motion picture directed by Barry Jenkins "One of the best books James Baldwin has ever written--perhaps the best of all."--The...
Fledgling : a novel
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
A newly expanded edition of Octavia E. Butler's only collection of short stories. Butler graces new mansions of thought with her eloquent, distinguished and poignant prose. Although this book is little in size, its ideas are splendidly large.' - Booklist 'The title story is justly famous. Splendid...
Kindred
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
Experience the novel that redefined American literature by the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower, MacArthur "Genius," and Nebula and Hugo award winner Selected by The Atlantic as one of the "most consequential novels of the past 100 years"...
Parable of the sower
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
The time is 2025. The place is California, where small walled communities must protect themselves from hordes of desperate scavengers and a roaming band of people addicted to a drug that activates an orgasmic desire to burn, rape and murder. When one small community is overrun, Lauren Olamina, an...
Needy little things
Desamours, Channelle
Paper Book
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. Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need--tangible things, like a...
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
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time * Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its...
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
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick "There is so much to relate to and throughout the novel, there is a sharp feminist edge. Loved this one, and you will too."--New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay ...
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
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.
Black leopard, red wolf
James, Marlon
Paper Book
One of TIME's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award The New York Times Bestseller Named a Best Book of 2019 by The Wall Street...
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.
Paper Book
Mary Alice Monroe returns to the heart of the Low Country with a richly textured story about family, loss and the heartbreaking compromises people make in the name of love. Sweetgrass is a historic tract of land in South Carolina that has been home to the Blakely family for eight...
Family of lies
Monroe, Mary.
Paper Book
Vera Lomax uses every gold-digging trick in the book to land a rich, older husband. Now she balances a life of shopping and affairs with younger men with a major secret: the 16-year bribery of one of her husband's mistresses to keep her pregnancy under wraps. Unfortunately for Vera, Sarah Cooper is...
Never tell
Montgomery, Selena
Paper Book
From popular national leader and #1 New York Times bestseller Stacey Abrams writing under the name Selena Montgomery comes Never Tell a novel of spinetingling romance and unforgettable suspense. Criminal psychologist Dr. Erin Abbott wants nothing more than to...
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...
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
"Rumors had been whispered for more than a year. Outrages that had been accumulating all along took shape as evidence. A mother was knocked down the stairs by her cold-eyed daughter. Four damaged infants were born in one family. Daughters refused to get out of bed. Brides disappeared on their...
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.
Paper Book
Easy Rawlins returns in this dazzling new novel of passion and justice in 1964 L.A. When an old friend asks Easy to find his missing stepson, Brawly Brown, Easy soon finds himself dodging the cops, who want to pin him for murder.
Little green : an Easy Rawlins mystery
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
In Little Green, Walter Mosley's acclaimed detective Easy Rawlins returns from the brink of death to investigate the dark side of that haven for Los Angeles hippies, the Sunset Strip. He's soon back in top form, cruising the gloriously psychedelic mean streets of L.A. with his murderous...
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 woman learns the astonishing truth of her family's ties to a vanished American Kingdom in this riveting new novel from the New York Times bestselling, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Take My Hand. Nikki hasn't seen her grandmother in...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of two sisters through their correspondence. With a new Preface by the author.
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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