#1
Months on List: 2
The novel revolves around a small town's secrets and its culturally diverse residents who must navigate societal challenges, focusing on the discovery of a skeleton at a construction site and the effects of this revelation on the community.
Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (paperback)
by James Mcbride • Penguin Publishing Group (July 29, 2025) • 2 Months on List
#2
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#3
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#4
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#5
Months on List: 3
A successful woman navigating the challenges of caring for an aging parent unexpectedly meets a charming tech mogul, whose pursuit might make her reconsider her reluctance towards romance.
Can’t Get Enough
by Kennedy Ryan • Forever (May 13, 2025) • 3 Months on List
#6
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#7
Months on List: 1
A successful playwright navigates personal life challenges and an unexpected romance with her hidden-away, single-father neighbor, amidst the backdrop of a picturesque Tennessee mountain setting.
Once Upon A Time In Dollywood
by Ashley Jordan • Penguin Publishing Group (August 5, 2025) • 1 Months on List
#8
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#9
Months on List: 8
In the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, a proud, hardened black man, Troy Maxson, grapples with societal changes and strained family relationships in an America whose harsh racial realities he's fought his whole life to survive, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama now adapted into an Academy Award-winning film.
Fences (1950s Century Cycle)
by August Wilson • Plume Books (June 1, 1986) • 8 Months on List
#10
Months on List: 20
<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) • 20 Months on List
#10
Months on List: 14
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) • 14 Months on List
#12
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#13
Months on List: 12
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) • 12 Months on List
#14
Months on List: 8
In the midst of a military coup in Nigeria, privileged siblings Kambili and Jaja experience a life beyond their tyrannically religious father's authority, leading to a tumultuous journey of personal discovery, familial tension, and the pursuit of freedom.
Purple Hibiscus: A Novel
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • Algonquin Books (April 17, 2012) • 8 Months on List
#15
Months on List: 20
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) • 20 Months on List
#16
Months on List: 8
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) • 8 Months on List
#17
Months on List: 10
A novel about the partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.
The First Ladies (paperback)
by Marie Benedict And Victoria Christopher Murray • Penguin Publishing Group (June 4, 2024) • 10 Months on List
#18
Months on List: 5
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) • 5 Months on List
#19
Months on List: 8
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) • 8 Months on List
#20
Months on List: 5
In the small town of Medallion, Ohio, two girls, Nel Wright and Sula Peace, nurture a steadfast friendship that withstands bullies and harbors a shared secret, but as they mature, an unforgivable betrayal threatens to tear them apart in this tragic, yet humorously portrayed, exploration of the complexities of friendship.
Sula
by Toni Morrison • Vintage (June 8, 2004) • 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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