African American Literature Fiction

When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.

He's rich, successful - and has been faithfully married to his longtime girlfriend for nearly one grueling year. Because for Dr. Dorian Graham, too many women is never too much - no matter how loyal his wife, Shantae, has been since their college days. So when she proposes they celebrate their first anniversary by each spending a no-questions-asked, no-consequences night with their greatest temptation, Dorian is shocked, but can't resist. Especially since Shantae's wild-card younger sister, Reagan, is gorgeous, uninhibited - and the one who got away.

From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.

After suffering a tragic loss, Amir "Ace" Johnson gave up his stronghold of the streets and put his guns away. He became the doting father that his twin girls needed and turned his back on everything, including love. Out of nowhere, he meets hardworking attorney Aaliyah Bailey who has him feeling a way he never thought he would ever feel again. Ace gets forced back into the game when he starts receiving notes and pictures that convince him that the original love of his life could still be alive.

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her. When regal nonagenarian Ms. Della invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning.

Donna and Kim Boon moved to Houston, Texas, with their Aunt Lisa when they were orphaned at 10 years old. Lisa raised the girls as her own, showering them with everything a young woman could want. The girls have grown up into beautiful and privileged Houstonites and are two of the most eligible bachelorettes in the city, with more suitors than they know how to handle. Life seems perfect, but when Aunt Lisa is gunned down in cold blood, the girls discover a family secret that will change their lives forever.

Jealousy, greed, and violent revenge are all at the forefront in this addictive listen by Brenda Hampton, the queen of girlfriends' drama. Kayla, Evelyn, and Trina have been on-and-off-again girlfriends for many years, but the lines of true friendship have been crossed, the knives that went into another friend's back cut deep, and trust no longer applies when one woman has an affair with another's man. Will this trio ever be able to regain the bond of loyalty they once shared?

Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God.

When two English brothers arrive at a Barbados sugar plantation, they bring with them a darkness beyond what the slaves have already known. Washington Black - an 11-year-old field slave - is horrified to find himself chosen to live in the quarters of one of these men. But the man is not as Washington expects him to be. His new master is the eccentric Christopher Wilde - naturalist, explorer, inventor and abolitionist - whose obsession to perfect a winged flying machine disturbs all who know him.

In this stirring prequel, New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe returns to the “cold-blooded yet fascinating” ( Publishers Weekly) character from her acclaimed novel The Upper Room. Ruby is a wild youth, with a thirst for boys and booze by the age of 15. When she discovers she’s pregnant, the only person she can confide in is her best friend Othella. But Othella talks Ruby into giving up the child, leaving Ruby emotionally shattered and adamant that Othella is to blame for her loss.

The Earth barely survived the Third World War. It isn’t ready for the War of the Worlds. A beam of pure Chaos has descended on the Earth connecting it to the Labyrinth Universe. Monsters will spawn, heroes will level and nations will fall. Chaos will Awaken!

Sly smirk. Heated glance. I knew I was hooked from the first moment our eyes connected. But I'm not the type of woman to give in easily. Especially when his offer is dripping in rule breaking notions threatening to consume me.

Whether weaving family life and history into dark fiction or writing speculative Afrofuturism, American Book Award winner and Essence best-selling author Tananarive Due’s work is both riveting and enlightening. In her debut collection of short fiction, Due takes us to Gracetown, a small Florida town that has both literal and figurative ghost; into future scenarios that seem all too real; and provides empathetic portraits of those whose lives are touched by otherness. Featuring an award-winning novella and 15 stories, Ghost Summer: Stories is sure to haunt and delight.

How far would you go to see justice done? How far is too far? For Madisun, the answer is simple. There are people in this world who need killing, and she's just the woman for the job!

Playwright, poet, and novelist Ntozake Shange originally composed for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf in as a mesmerizingly original choreopoem. The New York Post called it "rich with the author's special voice: by turns bitter, funny, ironic, and savage; fiercely honest and personal." Now a new audiobook, it chronicles the interconnected lives of a group of women facing shatteringly difficult issues, and evokes the indomitable power of enduring hope and joy.

I was, in life, to be a gambler, a risk-taker, a swashbuckler, a knight. I accepted, then and there, my place in the world. I was a fighter of windmills. I was a chaser of whales. I was Not Sidney Poitier. Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation.

A star athlete and Olympic prospect, Kal Carter is bound for greatness. Everyone says it, only he's not sure he entirely believes it. Because he's lost something he can't replace, and most days he feels like he's holding up the sky; and doing it all on his own. To maintain focus, he never lets anyone close except in the most superficial ways, and he's become very good at it. Until a long, cold week when the solitary girl next door who never speaks, smiles, or makes eye contact barges into his life and seems poised to upend the whole doggone thing.

Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching—yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places. It is a book that has a great deal to say and which is destined to have a great deal said about it.

Sex, love, drugs, and music are just a few of the Carter boys’ daily dealings. Drama follows them everywhere, especially being the largest, most dangerous organization the city of Atlanta has ever seen. The women who want to be with them and the men who want to be just like them can easily get lost in the shuffle when the target is constantly moving to a new Carter’s back. So, what happens when a slick-mouth girl from Brooklyn decides to go off to college in the unofficial capital of the South? She is quickly introduced to the Atlanta lifestyle....

When the organizing committee for her upcoming high school reunion needs a caterer, Halia agrees to help out. Soon she's serving up her signature macaroni and cheese and famous chicken wings to a host of appreciative ex-classmates. Some folks have blossomed since graduation. Others, like manipulative Raynell Rollins, currently married to a former football star, haven't changed nearly enough. When Raynell is found dead the morning after the reunion, the role call of possible suspects could fill the school gymnasium. Extramarital affairs, mega-church scandals and sports secrets...