African American Literature Fiction

When Desa Rae Jenkins ended her tumultuous relationship with Roc, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do; but now she's second-guessing her decision. Roc moved away to Kansas City, leaving street life back in St. Louis up to the brothas who can handle it. He continues to live his life on the edge, though, and when he returns to St. Louis, Desa Rae shows up at his doorstep to reconcile. Roc is reluctant to go there with the one woman who ripped his heart from his chest.

In 1930s Mississippi, Mary Johnson hates the oppressive heat, working on her family farm, and having to attend her minister father's church several times a week. But she loves Mason Carter, her musician boyfriend. Both fantasize about living the high life up north in the big city. When William Bevers, a wealthy old preacher, comes to court her, he promises a life of luxury along with money and status for her family. Mary wants nothing to do with him, but her parents decide for her. Determined to avoid a forced marriage, Mary elopes with Mason to the bright lights of Chicago.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird.

Blazing with scandal, deception, temptation, and revenge, this third installment in the Twisted series blurs the lines of infidelity and tests the true meaning of love.

Yetu holds the memories for her people - water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners - who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one - the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu. Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities.

After marrying her college sweetheart, Ginger Williams gave up her own professional dreams to help her husband follow his dream of building a megachurch. It's not long before Ginger and her husband, Jeremy, turn a small DC church into a burgeoning empire...catapulting the couple into a popular powerhouse. But with a bigger spotlight comes more temptation, and the power is corrupting Jeremy in ways Ginger never imagined.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Amerie Cross and Arnold Hightower.

It's been four years since Monica disrupted the Cinque household, but starting trouble is like riding a bike for Monica, and she's pedaling full steam ahead. The foundation of Jasmine and James Cinque's marriage has been shaky ever since they dared to bring a third person into their union. Now they're trying to repair the damage they've done, to regain trust and repair broken hearts. But with so much drama in their past, it won't be hard for Monica to come in and shake things up a little.

For the five Reeves women, nothing is more important than keeping their family bond tight and their communication flowing. But honesty isn't so clear cut when it could blow up everything they've fought to build. Already reeling from betrayal, middle sister Coco is fed up with lies - including her own. If she has her way, someone else's neck needs to be on the line for a change. But soon, Coco's in deep trouble with the law, her future hanging in the balance....

The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.

For two years, Diamond and Black have been living comfortably on their high-class cul-de-sac with their daughter Dior. They're ready to leave the drug business behind them, having enough money to continue their lavish lifestyle without going back to the streets to re-up. With the loss of his sister Mica, Johnny can feel nothing but rage for the woman he once loved. Now he plans to strip her of everything that she loves. From behind bars on his death bed, he sets a plan in motion that will tear Diamond's world apart.

A life filled with fast money and violence lands 23-year-old Candice Holmes in a witness protection program. When she finds out that no one is capable of saving her from the wrath of the ruthless family she is scheduled to testify against, she finds herself on the run. With nowhere to hide, Candice ends up fleeing to New York City where she is introduced to Daddy - who owns a house where little girls are doing big things. Candice soon realizes that the street life she left behind is nothing compared to what goes on at Daddy’s House.

In Jesmyn Ward's first novel since her National Book Award-winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural 21st-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi's past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power - and limitations - of family bonds.

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart.

Monica, a CEO with celebrity clients, loves her life. But when her man loses his high-powered corporate job and pressures her to start a family, Monica finds herself involved with a client who wants to mix business with pleasure - or else…Successful author Keesha is blowing through her money - and cheating on her fiancé. When her new friend, Jeremiah, discovers her deception, Keesha stands to lose everything....

Following a steamy European encounter, Tiffany Matthews is now working as a sous chef at wealthy businessman Dominick Rollins’ prestigious L.A. restaurant. Tiffany tries to keep her new boss at arm’s length, but soon she surrenders to his not-so-innocent flirtations. Now things are heating up in the kitchen—and in the bedroom.

In God Don't Play, trouble comes a woman's way just when she thinks she's finally got it all figured out. Annette Goode couldn't be happier with where she is in life. She has a good job, a comfortable home, and a wonderful husband and daughter. But tough times lie ahead. Out of the blue, Annette begins receiving anonymous hate mail and threatening phone calls. It seems her life isn't as settled as she thought, and demons from her past surface in unexpected ways.

Take a trip into theheart of passion as seductive samba rhythms pulse in the warm evening breezes. Escape and savor these three scintillating stories set against the beautifulbackdrop of Brazil.... Two weeks in Rio - surely that's enough time for marketing VP Sydni Lawson to forge a lucrative merger. But instead of sweet-talking real estate mogul Gabriel St. James, she's being swept away by their sizzling and unexpected attraction.

No one has ever affected the fierce, potent, and powerful Asa in any way, other than the terms he arranged. As a Dom, he calls the shots, makes the first move, and the odds are always in his favor. While taking an unwanted hiatus from his business, Asa realizes that he's hungry for more than what he has. "The feast" just happens to manifest itself in the form of a slim, 5'4" woman with a curiosity to a lifestyle he is an expert in. Elise is an intellectual who molds the minds of others daily as a adjunct professor and Masters student.

Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.