#1
Months on List: 14
A reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
James: A Novel
by Percival Everett • Doubleday Books (March 19, 2024) • 14 Months on List
#2
Months on List: 3
Four women navigate love, identity, and loss across continents and generations, confronting the truths they’ve avoided and the lives they’ve built amid personal and societal upheaval.
Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • Knopf Publishing Group (March 4, 2025) • 3 Months on List
#3
Months on List: 17
A novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
by James Mcbride • Riverhead Books (August 8, 2023) • 17 Months on List
#4
Months on List: 5
A woman haunted by her brother’s unsolved death and a shattered family heirloom uncovers buried truths that tie her personal heartbreak to a deeper ancestral legacy.
Good Dirt
by Charmaine Wilkerson • Ballantine Books (January 28, 2025) • 5 Months on List
#5
Months on List: 3
In a surreal present where historical icons return, a disgraced hip-hop producer joins forces with Harriet Tubman to craft an album that reclaims freedom, confronts trauma, and reimagines legacy through music.
Harriet Tubman: Live In Concert
by Bob The Drag Queen • Gallery Books (March 25, 2025) • 3 Months on List
#6
Months on List: 2
When a woman answers her estranged grandmother’s summons to rural North Carolina, she uncovers her family’s hidden connection to a forgotten kingdom founded by freed people and must decide how to protect its legacy.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-valdez • Berkley Books (April 8, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#7
Months on List: 5
A pioneering editor and writer navigates love, ambition, and scandal as she helps launch the <a href="https://aalbc.com/content.php?title=The+Harlem+Renaissance">Harlem Renaissance</a> and elevates a generation of Black literary voices.
Harlem Rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray • Berkley Books (February 4, 2025) • 5 Months on List
#8
Months on List: 1
In "The Dark Maestro," a cello prodigy from a crime-ridden background must abandon his flourishing music career to enter witness protection with his family, only to confront his father's criminal past using their unique talents for survival.
The Dark Maestro
by Brendan Slocumb • Doubleday Books (May 13, 2025) • 1 Months on List
#9
Months on List: 5
A Nigerian American writer grapples with fame, family, and creative control after her speculative novel about AI and humanity becomes a cultural phenomenon, blurring the lines between author and story.
Death Of The Author
by Nnedi Okorafor • William Morrow & Company (January 14, 2025) • 5 Months on List
#10
Months on List: 1
In "The Devil Three Times," a black woman forms a pact with the Devil to survive slavery, initiating a powerful agreement that aids her descendants over eight generations in their darkest hours in exchange for a monumental sacrifice, all while exploring the spiritual traditions of the Black diaspora in West Tennessee.
The Devil Three Times: A Novel
by Rickey Fayne • Little, Brown And Company (May 13, 2025) • 1 Months on List
#11
Months on List: 5
A young enslaved girl haunted by her sister’s ghost confronts forbidden love, buried secrets, and the cost of freedom as she dares to challenge the world that has kept her captive.
Junie
by Erin Crosby Eckstine • Ballantine Books (February 4, 2025) • 5 Months on List
#12
Months on List: 1
Inspired by the life of Bessie Coleman, this novel follows a fearless young Black woman who overcomes racism, poverty, and personal heartbreak to chase freedom in the skies as one of aviation's earliest pioneers.
A Pair Of Wings
by Carole Hopson • Henry Holt (August 20, 2024) • 1 Months on List
#13
Months on List: 8
Winter Santiaga navigates the aftermath of a near-death experience, balancing spiritual reckoning with her unrelenting desires for love, revenge, and success in a vivid, hip-hop-infused narrative.
Love After Midnight
by Sister Souljah • Atria Books (October 8, 2024) • 8 Months on List
#14
Months on List: 9
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.
Colored Television
by Danzy Senna • Riverhead Books (September 3, 2024) • 9 Months on List
#15
Months on List: 2
In Depression-era Alabama, a long-suffering wife finds new love and a chance at freedom, only to face betrayal, deceit and a potentially devastating showdown as she grapples with her husband's sudden illness and a shocking revelation from her daughter.
Bent But Not Broken
by Mary Monroe • Dafina Books (March 25, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#16
Months on List: 2
In <em>People of Means,</em> parallel stories of a civil-rights-era student activist in 1960s Nashville and her ambitious PR professional daughter navigating racial politics in 1992 Chicago collide, revealing their shared desire for justice, the impact of societal norms, and the unyielding strength of familial bonds.
People Of Means: A Novel
by Nancy Johnson • William Morrow & Company (February 11, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#17
Months on List: 2
A couple’s engagement in modern-day Harlem stirs echoes of a Civil War–era love torn apart by circumstance, as their families’ interwoven histories reveal generations of longing, loss, and unresolved connection.
Zeal: A Novel
by Morgan Jerkins • Harper (April 22, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#18
Months on List: 2
In a kaleidoscopic journey through 1970s New York and Detroit, a fiercely liberated woman navigates the thrills and dangers of sex, drugs, and identity amid shifting power dynamics and raw emotional truths.
Fish Tales: A Novel
by Nettie Jones • Farrar Straus And Giroux (April 15, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#18
Months on List: 8
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.
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict And Victoria Christopher Murray • Berkley Books (June 29, 2021) • 8 Months on List
#20
Months on List: 5
In this posthumously published novel, a reimagined Herod the Great emerges not as a biblical villain but as a visionary leader navigating power, politics, and faith in a turbulent first-century Judea.
The Life Of Herod The Great
by Zora Neale Hurston • Amistad Press (January 7, 2025) • 5 Months on List
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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.
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