Black & African American Historical Fiction

Road to Freedom Fraught with Danger in Historical Western-esque Adventure

The son of a Virginia plantation owner and an enslaved woman flees west after he is accused of killing his father… but that is only the beginning of his misadventures in Dan Schafer’s Western homage, Sun Walker. In 1821, Joshua Beck is one of a hundred volunteers for a large…

Peggy KurkowskiMarch 14, 2025

Fiction

Fictional Telling of FDR’s Maid, the Unsung Hero of the Civil Rights Movement

Shara Moon is making a mighty splash with her debut in historical fiction: Let Us March On. The novel introduces a broader community of readers to Lizzie McDuffie, one of America’s “hidden figures”, who made a quiet difference in the early Civil Rights Movement by way of having the ear…

Linda HitchcockMarch 13, 2025

Fiction Miscellany

Biographical Historical Fiction Tells the Story Behind the Headlines

In the summer of 2019, I met with my then-editor at Kensington Books, and she mentioned Alice Beatrice Jones and Leonard 'Kip' Rhinelander and their headline news story from the 1920s. It was a passing comment that I took to heart because I’d never heard of Alice or Kip and…

Denny S. BryceJuly 23, 2024

Fiction

Historical “The Bootlegger’s Mistress” Illuminates Underpinnings of America’s Great Migration

With his latest novel, The Bootlegger’s Mistress (MLPR Books), Marc Curtis Little shines a compelling light on the difficult implications of America’s Great Migration, the decades-long exodus of African Americans from the racially oppressive South to the North and West. This is the tale of a fictional family’s 1940s journey…

Anne Eliot FeldmanOctober 29, 2021

Fiction

Historical Fiction “Norvel” Relays Boxer’s Noble Battles In and Outside the Ring

For all the accomplishments of Norvel Lee in his community, in the boxing ring, and on the world stage, one simple story in Kenneth F. Conklin’s Norvel shows the true measure of the man. A day after Martin Luther King’s assassination, in his Washington, DC, neighborhood, Norvel sees a group…

Jim AlkonApril 16, 2021

Fiction

Little Deaths and Big Deaths: A Gothic Mystery Through a Modern Lens

“The way I see it, in any good life you need to die several times to really lead a life worth living. There are little deaths and there are big deaths. My tale has both – and the real tragedy would be if this story were to die with me.…

Neil NyrenApril 26, 2024

Thrillers

Tananarive Due Tackles History’s Horrors, Heroes and “Haints” in “The Reformatory”

Tananarive Due’s new novel, The Reformatory, had an auspicious publication date: October 31st. It’s long been said that the line between the living and the dead is at its thinnest on Halloween night—a belief fitting of her story, given the ghosts (or “haints”) she resurrects within its pages. A seven-plus…

John B. ValeriNovember 21, 2023

Fiction Listicles Nonfiction

Five Books That Examine Racism and Prejudice in the American Legal System

As tensions continue to rise across American political lines, one particularly incendiary topic is the discussion of the US legal system. Many advocates have brought to light the way the prison-industrial complex plays a major role in the racism and subjugation of Black Americans. And while the US legal system’s…

Cameron KimballSeptember 13, 2023

Fiction

A Young Girl Fights For Love, Identity, Freedom and Everything She Deserves

A beautiful, and well-written story that is fast-paced, emotional and purposeful, Wild Beautiful and Free tells the story of a determined young girl of mixed race, born to an enslaved woman and a plantation owner during the Civil War. Learning about love, family and integrity from her beloved father when she was…

Jennifer BlankfeinMay 19, 2023

Fiction Fiction - Featured

In This Booker Prize Finalist, a Somali Immigrant Endures the Biased Justice System of 1950s Cardiff

Author Nadifa Mohamed explores the topic of wrongful incarceration and a corrupt justice system in her new release, The Fortune Men (Knopf). The immersive detail and timeliness of this narrative are among the reasons that the book was selected as a finalist for this year’s prestigious Booker Prize. The Fortune…

Michael FerryDecember 23, 2021

Book Club Network Book Club Network - Featured2 Fiction Fiction - Featured

Late Mother Serves Estranged Siblings Long-Kept Secrets With Caribbean “Black Cake”

“At turns delightfully juicy and then stunningly wise, Black Cake is a winner.” — Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising “So beautifully written I’m struggling to believe it’s a debut ... the scenes are so well drawn I could almost taste the cake, feel the…

Jennifer BlankfeinMarch 30, 2022

Fiction

Tall Poppy Review: “Yellow Wife” Is a Powerful and Immersive Historical Novel

“Johnson achieves a powerful, unflinching account of determination in the face of oppression.” — Publishers Weekly —∞— One of the very best parts of being a writer is getting a glimpse into colleagues’ books in various states of pre-publication. I had the pleasure of hearing about Sadeqa Johnson’s concept for…

Aimie K. RunyanFebruary 25, 2021

Black & African American Historical Fiction

Road to Freedom Fraught with Danger in Historical Western-esque Adventure

Biographical Historical Fiction Tells the Story Behind the Headlines

Historical “The Bootlegger’s Mistress” Illuminates Underpinnings of America’s Great Migration

Historical Fiction “Norvel” Relays Boxer’s Noble Battles In and Outside the Ring

Tananarive Due Tackles History’s Horrors, Heroes and “Haints” in “The Reformatory”

Five Books That Examine Racism and Prejudice in the American Legal System

In This Booker Prize Finalist, a Somali Immigrant Endures the Biased Justice System of 1950s Cardiff

Late Mother Serves Estranged Siblings Long-Kept Secrets With Caribbean “Black Cake”

Tall Poppy Review: “Yellow Wife” Is a Powerful and Immersive Historical Novel

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