Black Voices & Culture: Fiction Books for Adults

Explore our curated list of fiction books by Black and African American voices in celebration of Black History Month.

Updated January 10, 2024
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Chain-gang all-stars
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from...
Everything Is Not Enough
Akerstrom, Lola Akinmade.
Paper Book
From Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström, international bestselling author of In Every Mirror She's Black, comes the highly anticipated second novel, focusing on the lives of three Black women as they fight their own personal struggles in one of the most egalitarian societies, Sweden. Can a...
Black girls must have it all : a novel
Allen, Jayne
Paper Book
In this final installment in the acclaimed Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy, Tabitha is juggling work, relationships, and a newborn baby--but will she find the happy ending she's always wanted After a whirlwind year, Tabitha Walker's carefully organized plan to achieve...
Go tell it on the mountain
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
A Modern Library edition of the renowned black author's classic first novel captures a vivid and provocative portrait of the African-American experience.
The art of scandal
Black, Regina
Paper Book
A "wildly steamy, utterly heartwarming" debut filled with romance, artistic ambitions, political scandal, and finding love where you least expect it (Tia Williams).  Publishers Weekly Best Romance Book of 2023 · Chicago Public Library...
House of cotton
Brashears, Monica
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...
You never know : a novel of domestic suspense
Briscoe, Connie
Paper Book
"The thing I love about Connie Briscoe now is the same thing I've always loved about Connie Briscoe--she writes highly commercial, pacey, character-driven stories. She was made for domestic suspense." --Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author The revered New York...
The new naturals : a novel
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...
The survivalists : a novel
Cauley, Kashana
Paper Book
In the wake of her parents' death, Aretha, a habitually single Black lawyer, has had only one obsession in life - success - until she falls for Aaron, a coffee entrepreneur. Moving into his Brooklyn brownstone to live along with his Hurricane Sandy - traumatized, illegal-gun-stockpiling, optimized...
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...
Maame
George, Jessica
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! * A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick * A February 2023 Indie Next Pick "Sparkling." --The New York Times "An utterly charming and deeply moving portrait of the joys<...
Life and other love songs
Gray, Anissa
Paper Book
"Musical in structure--the octaves rise when the music calls for it; truths are revealed by the invisible beats of this gorgeous, rich story" -Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful (Oprah's Book Club Pick) "Riveting, rhythmic, transcendent...
The love songs of W.E.B. Du Bois : a novel
Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne
Paper Book
An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller * AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION * ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S "GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS" * BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 * WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York...
The house of Eve : a novel
Johnson, Sadeqa
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...
The known world
Jones, Edward P.
Paper Book
Henry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation--as well his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin...
Butter : novellas, stories, and fragments
Jones, Gayl
Paper Book
A wide-ranging collection, including two novellas and ten stories exploring complex identities, from the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing, and Palmares "Gayl Jones's work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint...
Flipping boxcars : a novel
Kyles, Cedric
Paper Book
The first novel from one of the original Kings of Comedy, Cedric "The Entertainer," an engaging and entertaining crime caper that is a valentine to close-knit black families and tightly woven communities struggling to get by during the Depression and World War II. Babe is a charismatic and...
Pomegranate : a novel
Lee, Helen Elaine
Paper Book
"A remarkable feat of literary conjuration." --Jennifer Haigh, nationally bestselling author of Mercy Street The acclaimed author of The Serpent's Gift returns with this gripping and powerful novel of healing, redemption, and love,...
Trinity : a novel
Lockhart, Zelda
Paper Book
The Hurston-Wright Award Finalist makes her long-awaited return with this electrifying saga--as moving and indelible as The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, The Turner House, and The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois--that explores three generations of a family trying to overcome trials and trauma and free...
Zora books her happy ever after
McCoy, Taj
Paper Book
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Entertainment Weekly · EBONY magazine · PopSugar · Paste Magazine · BuzzFeed · BiblioLifestyle · Culturess  "Taj McCoy offers readers a yummy love triangle with her latest...
Beloved : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
Toni Morrison--author of Song of Solomon and Tar Baby--is a writer of remarkable powers: her novels, brilliantly acclaimed for their passion, their dazzling language and their lyric and emotional force, combine the unassailable truths of experience and emotion with the vision of legend...
Every man a king
Mosley, Walter
Paper Book
In this highly anticipated sequel from Edgar Award-winning "master of craft and narrative," Walter Mosley, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he's asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up (National Book Foundation). When...
Notes on her color : a novel
Neal, Jennifer
Paper Book
Winner of the Vulgar Geniuses Award Florida kitsch swirls together with magical realism in this glittering debut novel about a young Black and Indigenous woman who learns to change the color of her skin Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her...
Small worlds
Nelson, Caleb Azumah
Paper Book
An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and Costa First Novel Award winning author Caleb Azumah Nelson One of the most acclaimed and internationally bestselling "unforgettable" (New York...
Rebecca, not Becky : a novel
Platt, Christine A.
CD
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...
Queen of exiles : a novel
Riley, Vanessa
Paper Book
"You may not know Marie-Louise Christophe but once you have met her, you won't forget her. Vanessa Riley's historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens." --Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author Acclaimed historical...
Women of the post
Sanders, Joshunda
Paper Book
  "What a beautifully imagined and important narrative. Sanders' clear-eyed and powerful writing made this a hard one to stop reading!" --Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-Winning Author "This is a novel to cherish and share. And this is a...
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.
We are a haunting : a novel
White, Tyriek
Paper Book
WINNER - 2023 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree Longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize A Best Book of 2023 - NPR, Electric Literature, Largehearted Boy, Black Girl Nerds, Le Noir Auteur...
Crook manifesto : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem saga in a powerful and hugely-entertaining novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory. A Best Book of the Year: The New...
Gone like yesterday : a novel
Williams, Janelle M.
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK A lyrical debut novel that asks what we owe to our families, what we owe to our ancestors, and what we owe to ourselves. Janelle M. Williams's Gone Like Yesterday employs magical realism to explore the majestic and haunting experience of...

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