African Urban Fiction

For successful African American businesswoman Zoe Reynard, finding the pleasure she wants, the way she wants it, is not worth the risk of losing everything she has: marriage to the man she has loved since childhood, a thriving company, three wonderful children. But Zoe feels helpless in the grip of an overpowering addiction—to sex.

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.

Everyone in the Rinaldi Mob has a job to do—a role to play—and newly appointed Mafian, Jisei Harper, is no exception. Jisei is used to slumming it out on her own. From birth, she was dealt a bad hand, but instead of dwelling on it, she smiled, rolled her shoulders back, and played her cards. After years of struggling, she meets Mocha, a rich daddy's girl, and Scarlett, a naïve hoodlum who had it worse off than Jisei. Little did she know, these two new friendships would lead her to the only blood relative she never knew existed.

Imagine this… You've planned everything perfectly for your sixth anniversary, hoping to make it a special day. But then your beloved stands you up, leaving you heartbroken and alone at home. Later, your best friend calls with some shocking news—she saw your boyfriend with another woman in his car while she was stopped at a traffic light. In a fit of anger, you grab your trusty bat and arrive at the scene to take out your anger on his car—only to realize later that it wasn't your boyfriend's vehicle after all. The owner happens to be a gorgeous gangsta, and he is pissed.

Rozalyn McGuay is a simple-minded 15-year-old who thinks life is easy. She quickly realizes that life is a force to be reckoned with once she is abandoned by her mother and forced to live with a father who doesn't want anything to do with her. Seeking love, Rozalyn is pushed into the arms of the baddest boy on the block, Tamar Andrews. He shows her there is a thin line between love and hate. Nothing appears to be strong enough to tear her away from Tamar.

The ultimate love story began in White Lines, and now, in this stunning conclusion, Jada and Born come full circle - but not without paying a hefty price. On the surface, Jada's life is back on track - she's battled her demons, her son is a permanent part of her life - but it still feels like she's on shaky ground. What she really needs to settle her soul is to have Born back in her life - and in her arms - again. But reuniting with the man she loves is proving to be the hardest thing she's ever fought for.

I knew he had the power to make me feel, but he also had the power to break me. To pull my heart outside of my chest and stomp on it. I knew falling for a man like Capone came with more than I was ready for. He wasn't feared for no reason. Timmy never meant Jaiden any good, and I knew it from the first time I met him. I've never wanted someone dead as much as I wanted him dead. Timmy needed to go, and I didn't care how he went as long as he wasn't breathing. Capone put it on his life that he would always protect me and mine.

Jahzara, Honey, and Tomeka are best friends 'til the end. The three of them would die for each other and have always had each other's back. They each desperately wanted better lives and were willing to work extra hard in order to attain it. Relationship issues in their personal lives bring the girls closer together than ever before - especially when Jahzara brings a business proposal to the table. Betrayal, lies, jealousy, and murder is only the beginning of what they have to overcome.

Trick Baby tells the story of White Folks, a blue-eyed, light-haired con artist whose pale skin allows him to pass in the streets as a white man. Folks is tormented early in life, rejected by other children and branded a "trick baby," a child conceived between a hooker and her trick. Refusing to abandon his life in the ghetto and a chance at revenge, Folks is taken under the wing of an older mentor, Blue. What happens next is unbelievable.

Harmony used to love love. She loved the idea of being in love. As a result, Valentine’s Day was her favorite holiday...was. Now, she hated the very thought of it. Cody had ruined it for her and any chance of her ever falling in love again. He ruined it so much that when she met Dallas, she didn’t trust him to lead her to fall in love with love again.

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Perry knows Nola’s rhythm as intimately as his own heartbeat. So when the city’s Great Magician starts appearing in odd places and essential songs are forgotten, Perry knows trouble is afoot.

The Dopeman: Memoirs of a Snitch is a complex tale about the life and times of one the biggest drug traffickers the Midwest has ever seen. In the summer of 2009, the FBI has launched an intricate plot to take down one of the most prolific drug organizations, and Seven Smith is their main target. Seven establishes a relationship with an up-and-coming hustler and takes him under his wing. But unbeknownst to Seven, his protégé works for the authorities.

It's been years since their parents were murdered. Twin sisters Shia and Leigh are trying to readjust to life while caring for their baby sister, Remi. With the exception of Leigh's angry, dramatic mood swings every now and then, everything seems to be going great. That is until Demetri, a mysterious stranger, enters their midst and falls right in the path of the newly single Shia. After dating Trent for so long, she is looking for a man to treat her like a queen, and Demetri is heaven sent...until inexplicable things begin to happen.

Meet Heaven: a young girl who is loving, submissive, and beyond appreciative of her husband, Ross. As a teenager, Heaven lived solely for her sister, Divine, and her daughter, Sunshine. Because her mother is mentally ill and her father ran off, Heaven had to do some unimaginable things just to feed the family. Then came Ross, and everything changed. He wasn't some filthy rich, dope boy that some young girls dream of, but Heaven felt like Ross was her blessing.

When souls are tied, it's never goodbye. A boy I was that summer evening I met you, pulling your belongings out of the truck and into your new home. I knew it was love then. A whole man I was the day that you met me at the altar and agreed to love me until death do us part. A shell of a man I've become since it did, unable to move on, move forward, or progress in any way until I discovered that not even death was permanent enough to keep us apart. A better man I'm destined to be, knowing that, at some capacity, you're still with me. Our love is one that never dies.

The day Lisara Compton caught her husband in a rather compromising position changed her life in a way neither she nor her sons ever saw coming. Realizing too late that divorcing him would cause a domino effect of turmoil, she is now forced into an uncomfortable life that she can't seem to stay afloat in. With her eldest son acting out and a nonexistent ex-husband, Lisara feels things can't get any worse. That's until her ex betrays her and their son in a way that leaves her in need like never before. It seems she just can't catch a break, until she meets him.

Disaya Morgan, a character first introduced in Girls from Da Hood 4, returns in this gritty tale of a money-hungry woman who finds her life spinning out of control. When Disaya meets Indie and falls hopelessly in love, she is determined to keep her lifestyle a secret - but everything done in the dark eventually comes to light. When she loses control of her own hustle, things go horribly wrong, and she learns the hard way that, in the game she’s playing, there are no winners.

Following the action of Justify My Thug, the story rejoins the saga’s favorite couple, Tasha and Trae, as they try to make their marriage work in the midst of innumerable troubles: a murdered son, shattered bonds, forbidden affairs, deception, blackmail, hate, love, lust, corruption, friends torn apart by treachery, and the threat of going up against one of the most sophisticated and deadliest Chinese crime organizations. In the torrid world of sex, drugs, and crime, Wahida Clark continues the definitive hip-hop soap opera that fans have come to love.

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker - and they sure do love to talk. Now she speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and strength. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will rock her world.

Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor doing his residency wanders aimlessly. The walks meet a need for Julius: They are a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and they give him the opportunity to process his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. Though he is navigating the busy parts of town, the impression of countless faces does nothing to assuage his feelings of isolation.