African American Historical Fiction

A gripping novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law—a prosecutor and a madam—who team up to bring down notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the million-copy bestseller The Personal Librarian. Eunice Carter...

Perfect for fans of Promise Boys, this gripping historical mystery follows a teenager who finds a murdered girl on her family's California beach—a discovery that will reveal the racism rampant in her world. Fifteen-year-old Blue Collins’s parents own the only Black beach in Santa Monica in...

A cinematic, razor-sharp novel following a backlot fixer’s daring investigation into the suspicious death of a closeted Black actor within the glamorous world of Hollywood, from the bestselling author of My Government Means to Kill Me Xavier C. Barlow, one of Hollywood’s young Black stars...

When a bloody carriage appears at the front gate, Black’s greatest fear is realized. Mayhem has found its way to his doorstep, forcing him and the people to examine everyday life. In this fifth installment of The Black Series, the legendary Black is tasked with leading the people to a freer existence. He must also solve a deadly game of cat and mouse, while keeping the people from peril. Join Joan Vassar, Black, and the men, as they uncage the people from physical bondage, emancipate the people’s thoughts, and unshackle the people from fear.

Johnny Holt Jr. comes home to Kentucky for the summer to find his father, JJ, has made alliances with a notorious slave owner, Spanish-born Edmond Maguerro, to turn Holt Lands into a million-dollar plantation. Johnny is indifferent. Much as he hates the idea because of his liberal views about slavery, he doesn’t involve himself until he meets Elisa, one of his father’s new slaves.

Bootlegging was Milton and Yvonne Hamilton's ticket out of poverty, prison time, and plain bad luck. Now they've moved on - to a bigger, richer pool of clientele - right in their own respectable new middle-class backyard. And their growing friendship with seemingly-perfect couple Joyce and Odell Watson is proving golden in more ways than one. As Milton soon learns, Odell is hiding an outside family and dubious business dealings. It's the perfect recipe for a blackmail scheme that will help Milton hide his own dirty secrets - even from Yvonne....

Daniel is aggravated by the headstrong and much too observant new detective he's paired with, and Janeta is intrigued by the broken but honorable man she is tasked with betraying. As they embark on a mission to intercept Jefferson Davis and thwart European meddling, their dual hidden agendas are threatened by the ghosts of their pasts and a growing affection that could strengthen both the Union and their souls - or lead to their downfall.

Josephine "Jojo" Best has it all figured out. Just 17, she's been to college, she has her own hairdressing shop, and nothing will distract her from her goals. That is, until handsome George Brooks begins to pursue her. Then the return of her childhood nemesis complicates her life even further. No girl is immune to Adam Morgan's charm. But when a wound brings him home from the War Between the States, it's a girl he used to call "Pest" who's turning the tables. All grown up, Jojo is being courted by another soldier, and Adam knows it would be foolish to play with her heart.

Essence best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson’s fifth installment in his ongoing "Little Black Girl Lost" series picks up where the fourth book left off by continuing the diary of Josephine Baptiste. As more details about Josephine’s past come to light, the African heritage of modern-day Johnnie Wise is further explained.

Moved by the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., Lorenzo "Guts" Tolliver decides to abandon his career as a professional leg breaker and pursue a life of quiet moments and generous helpings of banana pudding in the company of his new, sensuous lover.

Both Noon and Herbie have secrets. Because of this she can’t be intimate with her husband, and he sneaks out to a hot jazz singer named Ethel - who has a secret of her own. When the city proposes to build a road through their neighborhood, Noon begins a crusade to keep it from happening - and maybe save her marriage in the process. Tumble into this amazing novel and feel the love and warmth of a special block in South Philly. This is an extraordinary depiction of the true meaning of family and fellowship.

Primi anni Sessanta, Florida. Il movimento per i diritti civili sta prendendo piede anche a Frenchtown, il quartiere afro-americano della capitale, ed Elwood Curtis, un ragazzino cresciuto dalla nonna, si forma sugli insegnamenti di Martin Luther King. Il suo grande sogno è frequentare il college e iniziare la sua nuova vita, ma proprio il primo giorno di scuola accetta un passaggio su un'auto rubata.

It’s 1776 in the American colonies, and revolution is in the air. Richard Pierpoint, torn from his home in Africa as a young boy and sent across the sea as a slave, hears the word “freedom” repeatedly, and yearns for a better life. When the British offer freedom to any slave who joins the British Army, Richard, and the beautiful and mysterious Shenandoah who has stolen his heart, escape from their masters and begin a quest in the pristine forests of the Mohawk Valley to join the British guerilla unit, Butler’s Rangers.

Celebrated by book clubs and inspired by true events, Song of Redemption unveils a devastating mystery. In 1932, a media frenzy erupted when the body of Danielle, a gifted and enslaved songstress, was discovered hidden within the walls of an abandoned mansion on the Soileau Plantation. Through her sister, who returns to the English and French-speaking parish to identify the remains, reporters uncover the complexities of Danielle's life on and off the sugar plantation, where she was the former child companion of the master's daughter.

The New York Times bestselling author of Wench returns to the Civil War era to explore the next chapter of history—the trauma of the War and the end of slavery—in this powerful story of love and healing about three people who struggle to overcome the pain of the past and define their own...

Essence best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson's popular series continues with this fourth book, which reaches back to unearth the roots of JohnnieWise's family tree. On the eve of her arranged marriage in an African village, a 16-year-old girl elopes with her fiancé's younger brother. But the lovers are captured and sold into American slavery - and the girl wonders if she'll ever see her man again.

Let the people of West Mills say what they will about Azalea 'Knot' Centre; they won't keep her from what she loves best: cheap moonshine, 19th-century literature, and the company of men. And yet, when motherhood looms, Knot begins to learn that her freedom has come at a high price. Low on money, ostracized from her parents and cut off from her hometown, Knot turns to her neighbor, Otis Lee Loving, in search of some semblance of family and home.

The Water Dancer meets The Prophets in this spare, gripping, and beautifully rendered novel exploring love and friendship among a group of enslaved Black strivers in the mid-19th century. They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues...

Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR, The Washington Post, and Financial Times “No one states problems more correctly, more astutely, more amusingly and more uncomfortably than Francine Prose . . . The gift of her work to a reader is to create for us what she creates for her protagonist...

A piercing short story collection that explores the feverish hunger and dizzying pleasure of girlhood and queer coming-of-age in a small town, from an acclaimed emerging writer Set mostly in and around a small working class neighborhood, Clark explores the lives of young Black girls, women, and...