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BLK Bestsellers List — September 2024

America’s Bestselling Books by Black Writers and Illustrators

Adult Fiction (Hardcover) — September 2024
#1
Months on List: 6
by Percival Everett
Doubleday Books (March 19, 2024), Hardcover
A reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
#2
Months on List: 8
by James Mcbride
Riverhead Books (August 8, 2023), Hardcover
A novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.
#3
Months on List: 7
by Tia Williams
Grand Central Publishing (February 6, 2024), Hardcover
A free-spirited florist and a mysterious musician discover a deep connection amidst the magic and history of modern Harlem.
#4
Months on List: 7
by Kiley Reid
G.p. Putnam's Sons (January 30, 2024), Hardcover
In the highly anticipated novel <em>Come and Get It</em> by award-winning author Kiley Reid, a senior resident assistant at the University of Arkansas becomes entangled in a web of deceit and chaos when an unusual opportunity offered by a visiting professor leads her into a world of dubious friendships, hostile dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue.
#5
Months on List: 8
by Marie Benedict And Victoria Christopher Murray
Berkley Books (June 27, 2023), Hardcover
In the backdrop of a racially divided America, this historical novel explores the unlikely, formidable friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, illuminating how their shared commitment to justice and equality helped shape the modern civil rights movement.
#6
Months on List: 1
by Regina Porter
Hogarth Press (August 6, 2024), Hardcover
A couple's retreat to their upstate cottage during the lockdown unravels when a family secret leads to a disappearance, drawing friends and neighbors into a tense search that tests their relationships.
#7
Months on List: 8
by Tananarive Due
S&s/saga Press (October 31, 2023), Hardcover
In 1950s Jim Crow Florida, 12-year-old Robbie Stephens is unjustly sent to a racially segregated reform school, where he uses his ability to see ghosts to uncover the grisly secrets behind the boys' disappearances and fight for survival.
#8
Months on List: 2
by Dinaw Mengestu
Knopf Publishing Group (July 30, 2024), Hardcover
When the son of Ethiopian immigrants returns to his childhood community after a distressing family death, he embarks on a journey across America unravelling family secrets and confronting his own troubled past in a desperate bid to save his crumbling marriage and find his way home.
#9
Months on List: 1
by Toni Morrison
Knopf Publishing Group (February 1, 2022), Hardcover
In this captivating exploration of race and relationships, two women, Twyla and Roberta, reconnect over the years after their childhood in a shelter, their racial identities purposely ambiguous, challenging readers to grapple with their perceptions in understanding the deep bond formed through shared experience.
#10
Months on List: 4
by Sunny Hostin
William Morrow & Company (May 28, 2024), Hardcover
Olivia Jones navigates family secrets and tense drama in Highland Beach while deciding between her established life in Sag Harbor and her dream of a home in her ancestral community.
#11
Months on List: 8
by Jesmyn Ward
Scribner Book Company (October 24, 2023), Hardcover
This narrative explores a voyage from Southern American rice fields, through slave markets in New Orleans, and into the depth of a brutal Louisiana sugar plantation.
#12
Months on List: 3
by Marie Benedict And Victoria Christopher Murray
Berkley Books (June 29, 2021), Hardcover
In a world marked by racism, a talented Black American woman, Belle da Costa Greene, conceals her true identity to become J.P. Morgan's influential personal librarian, creating a world-class art and book collection while preserving her fabricated white persona to protect her family and legacy.
#13
Months on List: 1
by Carl Weber And C. N. Phillips
Urban Books (August 20, 2024), Hardcover
When the historic family-owned club, Midnight Blues, becomes the center of a turf war among politicians, developers, and a ruthless mob boss, owner Big Shirley Duncan sends her son Tyrese to New York to enlist the help of relatives and save their century-old establishment in the seventh installment of the Family Business series.
#14
Months on List: 3
by Nicola Yoon
Knopf Publishing Group (June 11, 2024), Hardcover
Jasmyn Williams uncovers a disturbing secret about the planned utopia of Liberty, California, challenging her family's ideals and unity.
#15
Months on List: 1
by Colson Whitehead
Doubleday Books (July 16, 2019), Hardcover
In the racially charged era of Jim Crow's Florida, two unjustly sentenced boys navigate the horrors of a brutal reform school, their contrasting perspectives on survival fuelling a tension that culminates in a life-altering decision, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel inspired by true events.
#16
Months on List: 3
by Essie Chambers
Simon & Schuster (June 4, 2024), Hardcover
Diamond Newberry navigates family secrets and self-discovery while uncovering her father&rsquo;s hidden past during the summer of 1987.
#17
Months on List: 1
by Mai Sennaar
Zando - Sjp Lit (July 30, 2024), Hardcover
In the poignant debut novel <em>They Dream in Gold,</em> an intercultural family braves the tumultuous summer of 1969 in the Swiss countryside, painting a vibrant portrait of their missing patriarch's life while confronting their pasts and grappling with their diasporic yearning for home and identity.
#18
Months on List: 7
by Analeigh Sbrana
Harper Voy (February 27, 2024), Hardcover
A young woman bargains with a Fae lord to enter a deadly enchanted library, seeking magic while navigating treacherous alliances and forbidden desires with two dangerous Fae.
#19
Months on List: 7
by Nana Kwame Adjei-brenyah
Pantheon Books (May 2, 2023), Hardcover
In a twisted manifestation of the American prison system, two star-crossed women gladiators battle for their freedom in the deadly, corporatized arena of the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, while challenging the unholy trio of systemic racism, capitalism, and mass incarceration.
#20
Months on List: 8
by Saara El-arifi
Del Rey Books (January 23, 2024), Hardcover
Two elven sisters are exiled from their homeland and thrust into the dangerous, alluring world of the unseen for a millennium fae, where they must reconcile their loyalties to each other, their homeland, and their hearts.

Sales Data Source: Circana BookScan. Represents U.S. print sales from thousands of retailers.

Methodology: Books are categorized and filtered for Black Authors by the African American Literature Book Club. This list is a sneak peek into the Black Book Accelerator initiative.