Showing titles in African American

In 1925, college student Zora Neale Hurston - the sole black student at Barnard College, New York - was living in the city, ‘desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world.’ During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognised as one of the most influential and revered American artists of the modern period.

A Southern small-town romance about the visibility of Black women’s voices in country music, perfect for fans of Beyonce's Cowboy Carter and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. "The best romance I've read all year." —The New York Times Every Thursday night, former country music heartthrob Luke...

Brooklyn Dembélé is still piecing her life together after her divorce and the loss of a lifestyle she’d dreamed of since childhood. The single mother’s time is filled with work at the prestigious Historically Black University Romey U. But despite her focus on rebuilding her life, she can’t seem to forget the mistakes of her past.

In the glittering world of 1920s New York, the seven Ridley heirs seem to have it all: wealth, status, and protection as the city’s most powerful family. But when notorious gossip columnist Dale Caimen is found dead during their family’s renowned summer soiree, their carefully constructed world begins to crack. Behind the champagne and jazz, each adopted Ridley sibling harbors secrets that could destroy them.

As a young woman, Naomi Simmons grabbed her one chance to escape the overwhelming demands of her selfish family by marrying devout older man Jacob Purcell. But it only landed her with a controlling, unfaithful husband who delights in hurling insults at her and their troubled now-teenage daughter, Ethel Mae. So, Naomi is amazed and touched when Homer Clark sees her for the vibrant, intelligent woman she truly is. Believing the handsome, worldly widower is her love of a lifetime, Naomi plans to leave with Homer and start fresh in the big city.

Brought to you by Penguin. SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD As featured on Graham Norton's Book Club Narrated by the soul of an enslaved African woman, this is a searing debut novel about hope, redemption and the scars of history Over two hundred years ago in Africa, a woman tosses her...

Echo London never wanted to be the curator of the People’s Library, a digital collection of human consciousness. But when she’s assigned as its head librarian, Echo is entrusted with humanity’s greatest minds and historical figures, all of whom have been recreated through controversial consciousness-capturing technology that lets visitors interact with the dead. But an anti-tech rebellion is stirring. When a rebel attack results in tragedy, a mysterious woman wearing an ancient death mask leaves behind cryptic final words for Echo: It all begins with nothing.

Vern, a Black woman with albinism, is hunted after escaping a religious compound, then she discovers that her body is changing and that she is developing extra-sensory powers. Alone in the woods, she gives birth to twins and raises them away from the influence of the outside world. But something is wrong - not with them, but with her own body. To understand her body's metamorphosis, Vern must investigate not just the secluded religious compound she fled but the violent history of dehumanisation, medical experimentation and genocide that produced it.

Nella Larsen's "Quicksand" paints a poignant portrait of Helga Crane, a young woman grappling with her mixed racial heritage in the 1920s. Caught between societal expectations and her yearning for identity, Helga navigates different settings.

Life for Easy is uncharacteristically...easy. He's set up his own agency and is about to propose to his sweetheart, Bonnie. But all that changes when his old friend, Mouse - one of the deadliest men in America - appears at his door, asking for a small favour. The favour is to help the son of a friend of Charcoal Joe who has been wrongly imprisoned. Charcoal Joe is a mythical figure in LA, a man who pulls all the strings but is known to very few.

Childhood neighbors, enemies, best friends, lovers, enemies, Sires lineman Terrence Ford and his ex-wife, Krystle, have meant all these things to each other. Once believing their union was indestructible, they find themselves unhappily apart. Maybe what they see as an ending is really the beginning of a stronger bond and a deeper understanding of what love really is.

Can a good girl find love in a thug? For Lei Fifer, that’s the hundred-thousand-dollar question. When Lei, an introverted homebody, invites her girls over for a spa day, she isn’t expecting their conversation to shift to men in prison. As an advocate for rehabilitated people receiving the love, companionship, and support those who haven’t committed crimes receive, Lei doesn’t hesitate to put her money where her mouth is and bet that she can find a good friend or great love with someone through the pen pal program her father created.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Toni Morrison was the lodestar who inspired us' Bernadine Evaristo Twyla and Roberta have known each other since they were eight years old, when they were thrown together as roommates in a girls' shelter. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only to...

After being shot Sevyn washes her hands with Nasir. Missing her simple life before him she tries to move on, but quickly learns it's not as easy as it seems. Nasir refuses to let her go, but with his crazy ex-girlfriend still lurking in the shadows, he may not have a choice but to grant Sevyn's wish. When more unseen circumstances are thrown at both Sevyn and Nasir, the two learn life has a funny way of humbling you.

After the tragic and bloody end to The Cartel's reign, Carter is forced into isolation to evade the law. With his wife, Miamor, facing federal charges and his dear brother six feet under, Carter has never been more alone. His empire is at his feet, and he has no idea how to rebuild his kingdom. The only thing that is certain is that he has to stay out of the way and off the radar of the feds until he can figure out how to get his lady out of prison.

Sister Souljah returns to her beloved character Winter Santiaga in the captivating and heart-pounding sequel to instant #1 New York Times bestseller Life After Death. After suffering a horrifying, yet soul stirring death experience, worldwide top bitch Winter Santiaga, of The Coldest Winter Ever...

In Canaan’s Rest, Alabama, the faithful don’t just go to church on Sunday. They go because their grandmothers told them to. Because their great-grandmothers bled for it. Because somewhere beneath the floorboards of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, seven seals hold back something older than scripture, older than prayer, older than the God they sing to every Sunday morning. And those seals are breaking. For over a century, seven Black founding families have carried a covenant they never asked for. Each bloodline is bound to a seal.

Being more than a Daddy’s girl has always been the goal. Finding herself outside of being the baby proved itself to be the hardest thing. He seemed familiar. Something safe, someone she knew she could let her guard down around. A man that wasn’t just around because of what her last name could offer. The car she drove wasn’t the only thing that moved fast.

He thinks, as he escapes from Zanzibar, that he will probably never return, and yet the dream of studying in England matters above that. Things do not happen quite as he imagined—the school where he teaches is cramped and violent, he forgets how it feels to belong. But there is Emma, beautiful, rebellious Emma, who turns away from her white, middle-class roots to offer him love and bear him a child. And in return, he spins stories of his home and keeps her a secret from his family. Twenty years later, the barriers come down in Zanzibar and he is able and compelled to go back.

She’s a gem..she's on an entirely different level than the women I’m accustomed to. She’s loyal and about her paper. That’s why I’d sacrifice the only friendships I’d ever known, wait for however long it took her to be ready, and happily sever ties with anyone who didn’t agree with—or was against—our union. The little spoiled brat that I once considered off-limits had given me a taste of her forbidden fruit, and there was nothing I’d stop at to maintain the privilege of burying my seeds in her garden.