African American Historical Fiction

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright. Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold.

One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennet, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.

Neighborhood tensions reach a breaking point in the finale of New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe's captivating series that sweeps listeners back to 1930's Alabama and into the lives of two neighboring couples whose deceitful friendships and imperfect marriages are just the beginning of their troubles...

Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.

Leah Johnson has spent years hiding her heartache. As a Black woman in a town where society dictates who she can be—and who she can love—she knows better than to dream of a future with Adam Davenport. Her best friend. Her fiercest protector. The only man she has ever wanted. But longing for him is dangerous, and giving in could cost her everything. Adam Davenport has built his life around keeping Leah safe, even from himself. He has always known that loving her openly would put a target on her back. In Bonham, a man like him can take whatever woman he pleases—except her. So he forces ...

Teenage beauty Johnnie Wise has seen her share of hardship. Sold into prostitution at an early age, she is an accessory to a murder that sparks terrible race riots. Her boyfriend, Lucas, wants to give her a better life, but Johnnie has a powerful effect on men, and gangster Napoleon Bentley will stop at nothing to have her.

In this fascinating tale set in 1919, the Thomas family leaves New Orleans for Chicago as part of the Great Migration, seeking equality denied in the South. They are confident and optimistic. But hope is extinguished when they are met by 6,000 National Guard troops deployed to quell an earlier race riot. Linda and Ben prepare their nephew Trey to lead the family through the treacherous landscape of a big city plagued by segregation, police violence, and corruption. Is he ready? They devise a risky plan to challenge real estate covenants banning Blacks from buying homes in white ...

Grace could get any man she wanted physically, but obtaining love seemed to be impossible for her. Although she appeared to be very strong, independent, and very charming, she was empty on the inside. Grace had a great career and achieved many accomplishments. However, when it came to her love life, she felt like a complete failure. Until she decided to no longer be held captive to sexual abuse in the past.

Ruth’s beau died - simply because he was a slave.She is determined to help other enslaved people as she assists with the Underground Railroad. Recently freed and illiterate, Ruth is hired to bake mouth-watering delicious bread in a Philadelphia bakery. Her boss Joseph is kind, handsome, and determined to put an end to slavery. She feels emotionally connected to him as they work together for a common cause. His presence is like a fresh splash of spring rain on her parched soul. However, Joseph has plans. He’s determined to make some major changes in his life. He desperately wants to ...

Light-skinned Selina Standish lives a life of emotional pain and torment. In 1906, at the age of eight, she is convinced by her mother, actress Lavinia Standish, the daughter of a slave, to pass as white. Although Selina yields to her mother's insistence to pass, she refuses to cut ties completely with her Negro relatives, including her twin brother, a child her mother deems too dark. However, at age 17, in the year 1915, Selina meets wealthy Southerner Jack Cosgrove, the man of her dreams. Keeping her ancestry a secret, Selina is conflicted by Jack's negative attitude toward her race.

Essence best-selling author Keith Lee Johnson’s fifth installment in his ongoing "Little Black Girl Lost" series picks up where the fourth book left off by continuing the diary of Josephine Baptiste. As more details about Josephine’s past come to light, the African heritage of modern-day Johnnie Wise is further explained.

Laban Carrick Hill, the best-selling author of the National Book Award Finalist Harlem Stomp, here delivers an inspiring and lyrical story of a gifted craftsman who lived in South Carolina two centuries ago. Dave’s superb artistry and the deeply observant poetry he carved onto his pots reveal how he transcended the limitations he faced as a slave.

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth...when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Kal.

They were women whose lives began in slavery, who weathered the Civil War, and who grappled with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the 20th century. Through it all, they fought to unite their family and forge success on their own terms.

Charles thought he had it all - until a devastating betrayal and the shattering loss of his family drove him to living on the streets. Beatrice is the first person who's truly cared about him in a long time. Little by little, he's finding reasons to care about rebuilding his life. Drawn to Charles and the temptation of a second chance, Beatrice is faced with the hardest of decisions. But his insight, secrets - and the reminder of a profound past encounter - will give her unexpected inspiration, gratitude, and the strength she needs to find her way - perhaps in time for Christmas.

Welcome to Bailey's Café, the most mythically real diner you've ever walked into. Presided over by Bailey and his helpmate, Nadine, it is a magnet that draws a wide variety of the "colored" people of 1948, each with a story to tell.

They ran 1,000 miles to freedom and changed the country forever. The Vanishing Woman tells the true story of Ellen Craft, who escaped from slavery in 1848 by posing as a white man, while her husband William pretended to be her slave. They took trains and steamboats north, escaping in plain view. When other passengers looked at her, they saw only an ailing planter from Georgia. Ellen Craft had vanished. Ellen’s mother was a slave, but her father was her master, and she had skin as white as his. This enabled her to pose as a white man in one of the boldest escapes in American history. ...

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At first glance, Geniece’s story sounds like that of a typical young woman: she goes to college, has romantic entanglements, builds meaningful friendships, and juggles her schedule with a part-time job. However, she does all of these things in 1960's San Francisco, while becoming a militant member of the Black Panther movement. When Huey Newton is jailed in October 1967 and the Panthers explode nationwide, Geniece enters the organization’s dark and dangerous world...

Unafraid to use her assets, young Johnnie has wiled her way into the lives of several dangerous men. She also happens to be connected to three murders. Now that her enemies are closing in from all sides, it seems her luck may run out.