Contemporary Fiction to Read This Black History Month

February 21, 2024

Literature

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Wishing you a happy, book-filled Black History Month! Here are ten phenomenal works of contemporary fiction by Black authors to read this month and every month!

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

This instant New York Times bestseller chronicles a poor neighborhood called Chicken Hill and its predominantly African American and immigrant Jewish residents who work tirelessly to hold the community together amid love, loss, joy, and sorrow.

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The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

In this ingenious saga of slavery and survival, Colson Whitehead imagines the underground railroad as a literal railroad, complete with conductors and train tracks that operate beneath the southern soil. Our intrepid and resilient protagonist Cora encounters worlds terrible and strange as she journeys to freedom.

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Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

Kiara is just trying to keep her family afloat. Her brother is pursuing dreams of stardom, their young neighbor has been abandoned by his mother, and the rent on their East Oakland apartment gets continuously higher, Kiara begins Nightcrawling, a job she never wanted but desperately needs, and one that throws her headlong into a scandal within the Oakland Police Department.

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The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

In a sweeping story that follows one family through the entirety of American history, Jeffers excavates the American subconscious through her protagonist Ailey Pearl Garfield, and her struggle to reconcile herself and her history amid a harsh world.

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‍My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson‍

This interconnected collection of short stories explores characters seeking home amid a turbulent near-future. In “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse” a woman tries to prepare for the unfathomable. In the title story, a group fleeing a violent mob seeks shelter in Thomas Jefferson’s historic plantation home, Monticello. Each story deftly investigates questions of home and history.

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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Two twin sisters grew up intertwined and ran away from home at the age of sixteen. Now adults, one lives in the town she escaped from with her Black daughter. The other passes as white and keeps her origins a secret. This story is a captivating saga of family and identity.

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When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

This thriller, reminiscent of Rear Window, paints a portrait of gentrification both mysterious and terrifying. Sydney Green channels her frustration in her changing neighborhood into a walking tour and finds an unlikely ally in her new neighbor Theo. However, something is afoot in this Brooklyn community, and Sydney and Theo may have no choice but to find out what.

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Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This collection of short stories that take place in an unsettling near future explores the effects of racism and rampant consumerism. In “The Finkelstein Five” we see an all-too-familiar failure of the justice system. In “How to Sell a Jacket as Told by the Iceking” a desperate retail worker tries to make sales despite the interference of his colleagues.

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Kindred by Octavia Butler

In Octavia Butler’s seminal novel a young woman begins mysteriously time-traveling to the plantation where her ancestors were enslaved. Jumping between modern California and the Antebellum South, our protagonist Dana must come to terms with her past in order to make it back to her future.

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The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

Apollo and his wife Emma are joyous if exhausted with the arrival of their new son. However, when Emma commits an unimaginable crime, Apollo must go on a vast journey to reunite with his son and wife. Comparable to the Grimm Fairy Tales of old, Victor Lavalle’s saga merges immigrant folklore with magical realism to create a fantastical vision of New York that explores love, loss, and parenthood.

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