African American Literature Fiction

She cheated with one of her best friends' husbands - and turned scathing publicity into cash-money celebrity. But Jessa Bell has reformed. She's trying to make amends to those she did wrong, and she's started a successful business catching rich unfaithful spouses. Her agents are beautiful lost girls who get a shot at the good life. And when Jessa's sizzling affair with private detective Hammer turns into love and marriage, she's sure she's finally doing things right, until she catches Hammer sleeping with one of her agents just months after their wedding.

The author of 30 critically acclaimed works, Walter Mosley has had his novels translated into 23 languages. The Tempest Tales, an Essence Book Club Recommended Read, features Tempest Landry, a black man shot down by an over-eager cop. But that's not the end of the line for Tempest. Unwilling to accept St. Peter's judgment that he spend eternity in Hell, Tempest is sent back to Harlem - guardian angel in tow - to make things right.

Continuously available in print since 1968, this novel has become embedded in progressive anti-racist culture with wide circulation of the book and hotly debated film. A literary classic, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a strong comment on entrenched racial inequities in the United States in the late 1960s. With its focus on the “militancy” that characterized the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, this is the story of one man’s reaction to ruling-class hypocrisy.

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.

Kleigh never wanted Tron to fall in love with her, or vice versa. She isn't who he thinks she is, but how can she tell him that the kingpin he is gunning for, Kevin "Klax" Turner, is her big brother? She is the water to his fire and the calm to his storm. Never in his 26 years of life did Tron think he would find his equal, but Kleigh is exactly that. Her beauty speaks to his eyes, while her mind whispers to his soul. He can't imagine anybody else wearing the crown as queen after he kills the king of Harlem and takes over the throne.

Alana Kim is the definition of crazy, sexy, cool. Labeled a man eater by current and former lovers, this wild child lives life on her terms and couldn't care less what the world thinks of her. Seeking something she never experienced in her home growing up, Alana relishes the affection and attention she receives from the opposite sex. Men absolutely adore her but she's unable to return those feelings of adoration which causes problems to arise with a longtime lover.

Dr. Binet, your favorite doctor from Latoya Chandler's The Case Manager, returns in The Therapist to remind you that even therapists need therapy. After hearing so many painful stories from her patients, Dr. Binet finds her mind consumed in ways that drive her to action. The purpose of counseling is to heal open wounds, yet it can fuel the urge for revenge. Discover how Dr. Binet's dark secrets and unhealed wounds spill over into her daily decisions. A vow to confront her skeletons brings out an unfamiliar side that scares her.

Sylvia Blackwell has it all, or so she thinks. She and her handsome husband, Garrett, are the epitome of success: an immaculate house of their dreams, a beautiful and talented 17-year-old daughter, flourishing careers, and nearly 20 years of perfectly wedded bliss. Just as they are making plans for their vow renewal celebration, a call in the middle of the night interrupts their picture-perfect lives. Now Sylvia has to deal with the reality of Garrett's dead mistress and a love child she never knew about.

She's generous, kind, and compassionate - yet Delilah Grey will forever be an outcast in the small seaside town of Camden Beach, Maryland. She takes in women shattered by abuse, poverty, illness, or events beyond their control. But no matter how far she's come or how many she's helped find their way back, there is no safe place for Delilah. Acquitted of her rich husband's mysterious death decades ago, she lives in her beautiful mansion consumed by secrets - and mistakes she feels she can never atone for...until she takes in desperate mother Tracey Walters and her two young children.

Derrick. Ricky. Jamal. One's responsible; one's still a player; one's upwardly-mobile. Sentenced to the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute at 12, they grabbed the chance for better futures. They beat the odds and turned their lives around. But now, these three best friends will go head-to-head with ambition, deception - and each other.

Even the saved struggle when navigating their way through love. This much could definitely be said for the Fold family's middle child, Jadalynn. Having met when they were just 12 years old, Jadalynn and Andrew experienced some of their best and worst moments together. Falling in love was inevitable as they grew older and remained close. And falling out of love was just as certain when the two finally bumped heads.

This is a novel in the guise of the tape-recorded recollections of a black woman who has lived 110 years, who has been both a slave and a witness to the black militancy of the 1960s. Miss Jane Pittman has "endured," has seen almost everything and foretold the rest.

Serena Williams is a standout professional tennis player. Learn about her childhood and her rise to becoming a tennis superstar.

Several years have passed, but Sylvia McMillan still can’t run and hide from the truth that continues to tear at her soul. Her love for Jonathan Taylor, her ex-friend’s husband, remains. Jonathan has moved on, though. In less than six months, he plans to watch his new bride cascade down the aisle as they join hands in holy matrimony. He’s not about to let Sylvia’s slickness derail him again - but then again, how can he resist the one woman who is willing to honor every single one of his wishes?

Felicia Lyons, a stressed-out stay-at-home mom, struggles to sprint ahead of the demands of motherhood while her husband spends long days at the office. Felicia taps, utters mantras, and breathes her way through most situations, but on some days, like when the children won't stop screaming her name or arguing over toy trucks and pretzel sticks, she wonders what it would be like to get in her car and drive away.

Jacob is an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a small holding in the harsh north. Despite his distaste for dealing in "flesh," he takes a small slave girl in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, "with the hands of a slave and the feet of a Portuguese lady." Florens looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at her new master's house, but later from a handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved.

Jonas, the only boy in a family of four children, has always been a fighter. From the neighborhood bullies to the stepfather who uses him and his siblings as punching bags, his life has always been one battle after another. When he crosses paths with rogue homicide detective Louis "Lou" Ceavers, he's offered a bargain that will change the course of his life. Detective Ceavers becomes like a guardian angel and surrogate father to Jonas, teaching him the game and guiding him in his quest for power.

From the best-selling author of Deacon King Kong (an Oprah Book Club pick) and The Color of Water comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade - and who must pass as a girl to survive. Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856 - a battleground between anti - and pro-slavery forces - when legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives. When an argument between Brown and Henry's master turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town.

Cassandra Williams is twelve; her little brother, Wayne, is seven. One day, when they’re alone together, there is an accident and Wayne is lost forever. His body is never recovered. The missing boy cleaves the family with doubt. Their father leaves, starts another family elsewhere. But their mother can’t give up hope and launches an organization dedicated to missing children. As C grows older, she sees her brother everywhere: in bistros, airplane aisles, subway cars.

Some of the best-known and most influential pieces of crime fiction have been from African American writers. Be it Walter Mosley's great Detective Easy Rawlins, or the mean streets of Harlem at the hands of Chester Himes, the stories and characters in this anthology have shaped the mystery genre with their own unique viewpoints and styles. Contributors to the collection include Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright.