#1
Months on List: 17
In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change and social chaos, a 15-year-old girl with a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions must overcome societal denial, protect her community, and navigate her disabling condition to forge a new faith and shape human destiny.
Parable Of The Sower
by Octavia E. Butler • Grand Central Publishing (April 30, 2019) • 17 Months on List
#2
Months on List: 11
A divorced couple, Yasmen and Josiah Wade, navigate co-parenting and running a successful business together, only to find their romantic feelings reigniting, leading them to question if they can salvage their broken marriage despite past wounds.
Before I Let Go
by Kennedy Ryan • Forever (November 15, 2022) • 11 Months on List
#3
Months on List: 9
In this chilling suspense novel, a newlywed woman unravels dark secrets about her seemingly perfect husband after discovering the hidden journals of his late wife, leading her to suspect foul play and fear for her own life.
The Wife Before: A Spellbinding Psychological Thriller With A Shocking Twist
by Shanora Williams • Dafina Books (June 28, 2022) • 9 Months on List
#4
Months on List: 5
Sent to a brutal Jim Crow–era reformatory, a boy who sees ghosts uncovers the dark truths behind the disappearances of other inmates while his sister fights to bring him home before he becomes another lost soul.
Reformatory
by Tananarive Due • S&s/saga Press (January 7, 2025) • 5 Months on List
#5
Months on List: 17
In this haunting New York Times bestseller, former slave Sethe battles the relentless torment of her past and the ghost of her deceased child, in a chilling exploration of the lasting impacts of slavery.
Beloved
by Toni Morrison • Vintage (June 8, 2004) • 17 Months on List
#6
Months on List: 17
In Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison's groundbreaking debut, an 11-year-old Black girl, Pecola Breedlove, seeking acceptance in a society that idolizes blond, blue-eyed children, embarks on a heart-wrenching journey of self-discovery, exposing society's obsession with beauty, conformity, and the devastating effects of racial and gender inequality.
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison • Vintage (May 8, 2007) • 17 Months on List
#7
Months on List: 17
In the early 20th century, Belle da Costa Greene, the black personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, must hide her true identity and navigate New York's high society to curate a world-class art collection, in this tale of resilience and secrecy.
The Personal Librarian: A Gma Book Club Pick
by Marie Benedict And Victoria Christopher Murray • Berkley Books (June 7, 2022) • 17 Months on List
#8
Months on List: 17
In Jim Crow–era Florida, a principled teen’s imprisonment in a brutal reform school tests his faith in justice and forges a complex bond with a cynical fellow inmate, in a haunting tale rooted in real history.
The Nickel Boys
by Colson Whitehead • Anchor Books (June 30, 2020) • 17 Months on List
#9
Months on List: 11
After her life unexpectedly falls apart, domestic goddess Soledad Barnes must balance raising her daughters and rediscovering herself, whilst navigating an unexpected and forbidden romance that challenges her ideas of love and trust.
This Could Be Us
by Kennedy Ryan • Forever (March 5, 2024) • 11 Months on List
#10
Months on List: 1
In the gritty world of Chicago's child welfare bureaucracy, an imprisoned single father and his determined mother wrestle to rescue his young daughter from her reckless mother's toxic lifestyle, illuminating the trials of black fatherhood against manipulative women exploiting the system.
This Hoe Got Roaches In Her Crib: An Urban Satire
by Quan Millz • Independently Published (April 10, 2021) • 1 Months on List
#11
Months on List: 2
In S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears, two ex-convict fathers - one black, one white - unite in a quest for revenge and redemption after the brutal murder of their sons, confronting their own prejudices and past in this provocative and fast-paced southern thriller.
Razorblade Tears (paperback)
by S. A. Cosby • Flatiron Books (April 5, 2022) • 2 Months on List
#12
Months on List: 5
In a dystopian future, a young woman reads her late mother's diaries revealing the struggles of her peaceful community against a tyrannical leader, inspiring her to confront her past and continue her mother's fight for a better future.
Parable Of The Talents
by Octavia E. Butler • Grand Central Publishing (August 20, 2019) • 5 Months on List
#13
Months on List: 17
A modern Black woman is inexplicably pulled back in time to the Antebellum South, where she must repeatedly save the life of a plantation owner's son while enduring the harsh realities of slavery and prejudice, her stays growing longer and increasingly perilous, threatening her existence in the present.
Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler • Beacon Press (February 1, 2004) • 17 Months on List
#14
Months on List: 14
In a world where the power of the earth is used as a weapon, a season of catastrophic endings begins with a colossal rift, a murder, a disappearance, betrayals, and rising wounds that threaten the familiar land of Stillness, where mercy is absent.
The Fifth Season (book 1: The Broken Earth)
by N. K. Jemisin • Orbit (August 4, 2015) • 14 Months on List
#15
Months on List: 17
<em>Homegoing</em> traces the divergent paths of two half-sisters born in 18th century Ghana – one living a life of privilege married to an Englishman, the other captured and sold into slavery – and their descendants across eight generations, revealing the lasting impact of slavery from Gold Coast to Jazz Age Harlem.
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi • Vintage (May 2, 2017) • 17 Months on List
#16
Months on List: 11
Set in the early 20th-century South, this timeless novel follows a Black woman’s journey through love, loss, and self-realization as she seeks her own voice and freedom in a society that tries to silence both.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston • Amistad Press (January 1, 2006) • 11 Months on List
#17
Months on List: 2
A young man returns to 1940s Cajun country to advocate for a wrongfully condemned black youth on death row, discovering together the powerful heroism of resistance, in this deeply compassionate, award-winning novel by the lauded author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
A Lesson Before Dying
by Ernest J. Gaines • Vintage (September 28, 1997) • 2 Months on List
#18
Months on List: 14
<em>Seven Days in June</em> is a passionate tale of two acclaimed writers who, after a past torrid love affair and years of secret communication, reconnect over a week in a sultry Brooklyn summer, navigating personal traumas, societal expectations, and the complexities of love and creativity.
Seven Days In June
by Tia Williams • Grand Central Publishing (June 7, 2022) • 14 Months on List
#19
Months on List: 17
In Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, fiercely independent Janie Crawford navigates love, poverty, and self-discovery through three marriages, painting an enduring and compelling portrait of 20th-century African American womanhood.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston • Amistad Press (May 30, 2006) • 17 Months on List
#20
Months on List: 2
A reserved woman and a notorious flirt enter a no-strings-attached flirting arrangement that unexpectedly deepens into real desire, forcing them both to rethink what they want from love and each other.
Flirting Lessons
by Jasmine Guillory • Penguin Publishing Group (April 8, 2025) • 2 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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