Black History in Fiction, 2023Like this list

22 items

• Carolina Built

  a Novel

  Alexander, Kianna

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  This inspiring novel is based on the life of North Carolina real estate magnate Josephine N. Leary, a freed plantation slave who taught herself how to be a business woman, manage her finances, make smart investments and to ultimately become a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Door of No Return

  Alexander, Kwame

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  When his brother represents Upper Kwanta in a wrestling contest, resulting in the unthinkable, 11-year-old Kofi finds himself fighting for his life, which sends him on a dangerous journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Scent of Burnt Flowers

  a Novel

  Bazawule, Blitz

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  In 1965 Alabama, a newly engaged Black couple, after one fateful turns them into fugitives, seek asylum in Ghana where an encounter a Highlife musician, which starts a journey of lust, magic and danger that ends in chaos as they each must confront…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• In the Face of the Sun

  Bryce, Denny S.

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  At the height of the Civil Rights Movement amidst an America convulsed by the 1960s, a pregnant young woman and her brash, profane aunt embark upon an audacious road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles to confront a decades-old mystery from 1920’s…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Thread Collectors

  a Novel

  Edwards, Shaunna J.

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  In 1863, an ingenious young Black woman, who embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army, crosses paths with a Jewish seamstress who helps her discover that even the most delicate threads have the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• By Her Own Design

  a Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register

  Huguley, Piper

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  Less than a week before the society wedding of the year where Jacqueline Bouvier will marry John F. Kennedy, a pipe bursts at Ann Lowe’s dress shop and ruins eleven dresses, including the expensive wedding dress, a dress that will be judged by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Light Always Breaks

  Jackson-Brown, Angela, 1968-

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  In her distinctive Southern literary style, award-winning author Angela Jackson-Brown delivers a moving story of a star-crossed romance in 1947 Washington DC, and the way love has the power to change everything

• The House of Eve

  Johnson, Sadeqa

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  1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Woman of Endurance

  a Novel

  Llanos-Figueroa, Dahlma

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  This absorbing and complex novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history--the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade--witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves.

• Empty Vows

  Monroe, Mary

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  A popular, generous forty-something widow in Lexington, Alabama decides to make herself indispensable to recently-widowed Hubert Wiggins but is disappointed when he is not everything she'd dreamed he'd be and instead turns her attentions to a much…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Anywhere You Run

  a Novel

  Morris, Wanda M. (Wanda Michelle), 1959-

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  In this gripping, suspenseful novel, in which, after the murder of a white man in Jim Crow Mississippi, two black sisters run away to different parts of the country...but can they escape the secrets they left behind?

• The Last Gift of the Master Artists

  Okri, Ben

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  This ominous tale set in Ancient Africa reinvents through the story of the Atlantic slave trade the resilient culture Okri's native Nigeria, in a story that follows a disguised prince’s search for a girl he met by chance as ships with white sails…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Monsters We Defy

  Penelope, L., 1978-

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  In an alternate 1925 Washington, D.C, a woman able to communicate with spirits must assemble a ragtag crew to pull off a daring heist to save her community in this timely and dazzling historical fantasy that weaves together African American folk…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Take My Hand

  Perkins-Valdez, Dolen

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  In 1973 Montgomery, Alabama, Civil Townsend, a young Black nurse working for the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, grapples with her role when she takes two young girls into her heart and the unthinkable happens, and nothing will ever be the same…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• One-shot Harry

  Phillips, Gary, 1955-

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  Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in this gritty, riveting historical crime novel about an African American forensic photographer seeking justice for a friend.

• Sister Mother Warrior

  a Novel

  Riley, Vanessa

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  When a war breaks out on Saint Domingue, two extraordinary women--the first Empress of Haiti and a West African-born warrior--finally meet and play pivotal roles in the revolution that will eventually lead to full independence for Haiti and its…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Greenland

  a Novel

  Santos Donaldson, David

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  A dazzling literary debut novel-within-a-novel about a young author writing about the forbidden love affair between E.M. Forster and Mohammed el Adl - in which Mohammed's story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction.

• On the Rooftop

  Sexton, Margaret Wilkerson

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  The talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore, The Salvations--sisters Ruth, Esther and Chloe--find their personal ambitions on a collision course with those of their mother, whose dreams of musical stardom for them forces her to confront the parts of her life…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Two Lives of Sara

  West, Catherine Adel

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  During the racially divided 1960s, a young Black unwed mother named Sara, working for Mama Sugar at a popular boarding house in Memphis, Tennessee, finds friendship and refuge until secrets from Mama Sugar's past are revealed, forcing Sara to make a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Cake

  a Novel

  Wilkerson, Charmaine

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  Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous…Read moreRead more of this annotation