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Book Recommendations for General Fiction + Black Authors

Click on the buttons below to filter by subgenre/theme, time period and setting.
All of these books have been read, reviewed, and recommended by our professional reviewers.
Learn how we choose recommended books here.
Total Books Recommended: 216

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Filter by Genre
Genre: Fiction
Literary Fiction - 116
Historical Fiction - 49
Thrillers - 11
Mystery - 5
Romance/Love Stories - 7
Short Stories - 25
Speculative, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alt. History - 22
Poetry & Novels in Verse - 2

Filter by Subgenre/Theme
Firsts
Debuts - 87
1st in Series - 8

Humor & Uplifting
Uplifting - 5
Humor & Satire - 12

Families
Generational Sagas - 46
Parenting & Families - 23

Ages & Stages
Adult Books From Child's Perspective - 11
Coming of Age - 55
Mid-Life Onwards - 9
Dealing with Loss - 41

Ethnicity
Books in Translation - 5
Immigrants & Expats - 36
Black Authors - 216
Latinx Authors - 2
Jewish Authors - 1
Native and Indigenous Authors - 1

Gender & Sexuality
Female Friendships - 19
Strong Women - 67
LGBTQ+ - 24

Philosophy & Spiritual
Philosophical - 4
Religious or Spiritual Themes - 9

Magical or Supernatural
Magical or Supernatural - 26
Magical Realism - 9

Miscellaneous
Books with Discussion Guides - 105
Small Press Titles - 19
Books about Books - 4
Physical & Mental Differences - 6
War Related - 24
Nature & Environment - 5
Music and the Arts - 4
Activism & Volunteering - 4
Heroes - 2
LibraryReads Picks - 25

Number of Pages
400+ Pages - 16
250-400 Pages - 216
Less Than 250 Pages - 47

Filter by Time Period
Time Period
17th Century or Earlier - 4
18th Century - 4
19th Century - 24
20th Century (multiple decades) - 18
Early 20th Century - 2
1920s & '30s - 4
1940s & '50s - 20
1960s & '70s - 19
1980s & '90s - 22
Contemporary - 88
The Future - 7
Across The Centuries - 6

Filter by Setting
Major Regions
USA - 118
Canada - 3
Central & S. America, Mexico, Caribbean - 16
Europe - 13
Asia - 3
Africa - 48
On The High Seas - 1
Global - 2
Imaginary Locations - 7

USA (48 States)
N.H. Vt. Maine - 2
Mass. - 2
Penn. - 3
New York State - 24
Md. Del. - 2
Washington DC - 5
Tenn. Va. W.Va. Ky. - 6
N & S Carolina - 6
Mis. Ala. Ga. - 10
Florida - 4
Texas - 5
Ark. La. Ok. - 7
Kas. Mo. - 1
Illinois - 3
Ind. Mich. Ohio - 6
Ariz. Nev. N.M. Utah - 3
California - 17
Wash. Ore. Idaho - 1

USA Regions
New England, USA - 7
Mid-Atlantic, USA - 32
South, USA - 48
Midwest, USA - 10
West, USA - 18

Europe by Region
UK (Britain) & Ireland - 18
France - 3
Spain - 1
Germany - 2
Italy - 1

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  • The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
    Briony Cameron
    Paperback: 05/13/2025
     
    This epic, dazzling tale based on true events illuminates a woman of color's rise to power as one of the few ...
  • Remember Us
    Jacqueline Woodson
    Paperback: 05/06/2025
     
    Winner: BookBrowse YA Book Award 2023

    National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful...
  • The Corruption of Hollis Brown
    K. Ancrum
    Hardcover: 04/22/2025
     
    From acclaimed author K. Ancrum comes a queer romantic thriller in which the lives of Hollis, a boy in search ...
  • When the Harvest Comes
    Denne Michele Norris
    Hardcover: 04/15/2025
     
    In this heart-wrenching debut novel, a young Black gay man reckoning with the death of his father must ...
  • The Creation of Half-Broken People
    Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
    Paperback: 04/08/2025
     
    Stupendous African Gothic, by the winner of Yale University's Windham–Campbell Prize.
  • Happy Land
    Dolen Perkins-Valdez
    Hardcover: 04/08/2025
     
    A woman learns the incredible story of a real-life American Kingdom—and her family's ties to it—...
  • Theft
    Theft: A Novel
    Abdulrazak Gurnah
    Hardcover: 03/18/2025
     
    In his first new novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize, a master storyteller captures a time of dizzying ...

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