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BLK Bestsellers List — October 2024

America’s Bestselling Books by Black Writers and Illustrators

Adult Fiction (Hardcover) — October 2024
#1
Months on List: 7
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: 9
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: 1
by Danzy Senna
Riverhead Books (September 3, 2024), Hardcover
In this dark comedy, aspiring novelist Jane navigates reinvention and the racial identity-industrial complex with Hollywood ambitions, enticing a hot-shot producer with the promise of the <em>Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies,</em> striving for success while grappling with unexpected setbacks.
#4
Months on List: 1
by Attica Locke
Mulholland Books (September 3, 2024), Hardcover
Pulled from retirement, Detective Darren Mathews navigates a web of deception to uncover the truth behind a missing black college student from an all-white sorority, forced to rely on his dubious mother as he risks his own peace for justice in the climax of the Highway 59 trilogy.
#5
Months on List: 8
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.
#6
Months on List: 9
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.
#7
Months on List: 9
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: 9
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.
#9
Months on List: 8
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.
#10
Months on List: 2
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.
#11
Months on List: 4
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.
#12
Months on List: 8
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.
#13
Months on List: 3
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.
#14
Months on List: 4
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.
#15
Months on List: 8
by S. A. Cosby
Flatiron Books (June 6, 2023), Hardcover
When the first Black sheriff of a small southern town investigates a shocking murder, he uncovers a hidden serial killer, faces community secrets, and combats systemic racism while fighting to protect his hometown from impending darkness.
#16
Months on List: 2
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.
#17
Months on List: 1
by Lorraine Hansberry
Modern Library (August 22, 1995), Hardcover
<em>A Raisin in the Sun</em> is a groundbreaking, award-winning drama that explores the dreams and struggles of a working-class black family in 1950s Chicago, profoundly impacting American theater with its truthful representation of black lives.
#18
Months on List: 8
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.
#19
Months on List: 4
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.
#20
Months on List: 2
by O.o. Sangoyomi
Forge (July 2, 2024), Hardcover
A skilled blacksmith from conquered Timbuktu is forced into marriage with a powerful warrior king and must navigate a treacherous world of politics and betrayal to reclaim her autonomy.

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.