African American Family Fiction

From the time Brooke Green was seven years old, she has lived with the pain of losing her mother. Her father has done the best job he could in raising her, but a piece of her always felt empty. On the day of her father's funeral, her grandmother breaks the shocking news: Her mother, Sarah, is very much alive. She abandoned her family because she claimed she wasn't fit for motherhood. After doing some research, Brooke discovers her mother is living in Atlanta, enjoying a great career...and a brand-new family.

It has been a year since Jillian Novak ended their affair - a year that left Dr. Aidan Westmoreland determined to win back his lover. He knows they shouldn't have to keep their relationship a secret, and he'll follow her around the world to prove it. Fourteen days on a cruise ship - just Aidan, Jillian, and the deep blue sea - and a passion that won't be denied.

Cris Burks won widespread acclaim for her engaging first novel, SilkyDreamGirl. Burks' second offering follows the life of a determined girl struggling toward adulthood in 1950s Chicago. The devastating discovery that "Daddy" is not her real father opens a great chasm in Neecey's world and leads to Neecey's abusive mother bringing a succession of no-good men into the home. Nevertheless, as she grows into a woman, the resilient Neecey strives to overcome despair and forge a new life for herself.

Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions: Why couldn't she drink from a whites-only fountain? Why couldn't she feel safe beyond home - or even within the walls of church? Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter - and the knowledge that her true place was a free one.

In the past year Detective Josephine "Jo" Reed-Powell brought down one of the most notorious serial killers in a decade in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County. When Jo arrives at a new crime scene, something seems very familiar to her. She immediately thinks she may be dealing with a copycat killer. Or is she? How can she keep her mind on finding a killer when her life is falling apart? Jo is struggling with her shattered marriage knowing her husband, Bryan Powell, has had an affair. As Jo questions the twists and turns of her murder investigations, can she let God mend her broken heart?

Forensic artist Toni Reed loves when her work helps the police catch criminals. Tasked with helping a traumatized woman identify her attacker, Toni is troubled when she sketches a face that resembles a man from her past. Is it the same man who brutally attacked her two years ago? Despite longtime family friend Detective Cam Noble's insistence that she not interfere with the case, Toni becomes obsessed with seeking justice. Will she let God lead her to come to terms with her past?

Throughout his life, Cleveland Robeson has shouldered life's challenges and traumas without asking for help. Whether it is because of his age, his gender, or because he is black, he has survived by putting his head down, plowing ahead, and never acknowledging the well-being of his mental health. But when he suggests therapy for his wife, what follows could change their marriage and his life.

The Bell family has had their ups and downs, though most have found solace far away from each other. When Patricia Bell, their Mama Bell, dies from cancer, it draws the disbanded family together to discuss a family reunion. As the undisputed matriarch, Mama Bell had been the force of good in the family and for her, even people who normally do not get along will come together and try to find common ground.

Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a plantation in Georgia. But when Master decides to sell Sally and her brother, the family escapes to seek shelter with a tribe of Seminoles who are rumored to adopt runaway slaves. After a perilous journey, Sally’s family finds and joins the tribe. But while her father and brother easily adjust to Indian ways, Sally can’t seem to find her place.

Walking Gentry Home tells the story of Alora Young’s ancestors, from the unnamed women forgotten by the historical record but brought to life through Young’s imagination; to Amy, the first of Young’s foremothers to arrive in Tennessee, buried in an unmarked grave, unlike the white man who enslaved her and fathered her child; through Young’s great-grandmother Gentry, unhappily married at fourteen; to her own mother, the teenage beauty queen rejected by her white neighbors.

For Dana, what should be the happiest day of her life becomes the day her world falls apart. Her daughter is born beautiful and healthy, but no one can help noticing the African-American traits in her appearance. Dana's husband, to her great shock and dismay, begins to worry that people will think she has had an affair. Now Dana has to track down the father she never knew and explore the possibility of African-American lineage in his family history.

Tina Justice burst into the club like she owned the joint. Heads quickly turned and murmurs rose amid lively applause. Newspaper photographers and reporters scurried ahead of her, frantically snapping pictures and shouting questions while her security team cleared the way. She ignored it all. Restaurant patrons jumped to their feet, applauding in roof-raising adulation and admiration of her, sounding like hundreds of geese rising from a lake, noisily squawking and honking, wings loudly beating the air.

Wesley Greenfield, aka Ice or the Iceman, a self-professed "corner boy" has no intention of stepping up to Dr. Rosalyn Hunter, his high-school heart throb, even though she has stepped up to help him protect three abandoned neighborhood kids. As the principal of the local elementary school, in his view, she ranks too far above his lowly position as the owner and operator of a struggling community center.

Hearing the news that his mother is leaving their family home without explanation, the life of young Marcellous Thompson begins to unravel. As Marcellous progresses from adolescence into young adulthood, for each traumatic event he overcomes another is awaiting perilously around the corner. Betrayal, heartbreak, depression, and love are a handful of emotions Marcellous must master in order to grow into the man he has always envisioned within himself. Does he has the perseverance and fortitude to survive, or will he succumb to the pressures of his life?

The next generation of the Jamiesons want to make this the best Christmas celebration ever. Presents aren't required. With the help of their Robnett cousins, sisters Kami and Victoria are creating traditional and new dishes for their family. What's not on the menu is romance. But the holidays are the perfect time to fall in love.

Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal.

Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators - including Renee Watson (Piecing Me Together), Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Meg Medina (Merci Suarez Changes Gears), and Adam Gidwitz (The Inquisitor's Tale) - engage young people in frank discussions about racism, identity, and self-esteem. Featuring stories filled with love, acceptance, truth, peace, and an assurance that there can be hope for a better tomorrow, The Talk is an inspiring anthology and must-have resource published in partnership with Just Us Books.

Daquan loves his wife, Aviana, more than words can explain. Their life isn’t perfect, but it’s theirs, and he wouldn’t change any of it. That is until Aviana doesn’t return home from work one night. Daquan seeks out to find the love of his life, only to find out his wife has a secret life he knew nothing about. Is their love enough to save their marriage? Will it stop Daquan from taking their son and moving on with his life? Only time will tell.

Vanessa Reed had been at odds for years with Evelyn Underwood. Despite the woman's affair with her husband, Vanessa had moved on and forgiven Justice Reed. She's even accepted Jax Reed, the son born of the affair as if he were one of her own children. As Vanessa prepares to bring her family together for the holidays, she contemplates one of her greatest tests of faith and the consequences.

As a publicist for professional athletes, Antonio Vega is used to solving problems and spinning stories to the benefit of his clients. Yet, he can't seem to convince his wife that he has been and always will be faithful, and her lack of trust tests the limits of his patience.