Books by Black Women That Should Be On Your Reading List
Some of the best novels were written by artistic and gifted Black women. Books like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)” by Maya Angelou and “The Color Purple (1944)” by Alice Walker paved the way for Black female writers everywhere. Being able to depict unsettling and gripping retelling of their personal stories and fictional ones so intensely and vividly is one of the many reasons why books written by Black women have become the literary landscape of the 21st Century. We get to experience and explore dialogues on class, capitalism, race, family, love, and more.
We believe Black writers have some of the strongest and most vivid voices in literature so it is only right that we share with you some of our favourite reads by Black women so you can expand your library and immerse yourself in their stories.
1. The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams
The Three of Us is a book set to be available for purchase in May 2023. We are very much looking forward to reading this as all reviews look incredibly enticing. Below is a small summary and not our wording:
Set over the course of a single day, husband, wife, and best friend Temi toe the lines of compromise and betrayal. Told in three parts, each voice as compelling as the next, three people's lives and their visions of themselves and each other begin to slowly unravel until a startling discovery throws everyone's integrity into question.
2. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other is British literature at its finest and possibly the biggest talking point of 2019 especially after winning the 2019 Booker Prize and being shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2020. This beautiful novel explores the concept of belonging in a country that has been having its own identity crisis for so many decades.
The novel involves twelve stories about twelve different people, across a century of British history, all looking for someone, somewhere, or something to hold onto.
Purchase the book here.
3. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Black Cake is a book you’re going to thank us for recommending. It follows the lives of Eleanor Bennett’s two sons after she dies. The heartbreaking story shares how she leaves behind a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. The mystery that unfolds changes what the boys think they knew about their family and themselves.
This book was also a nominee for Goodread's Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel award in 2022.
Purchase the book here.
4. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Take My Hand follows the true story of government overreach in the forced sterilization of poor Black girls. In 1973, Civil Townsend is excited to use her new nursing degree to make a difference in the lives of her African-American community in Montgomery, Alabama.
However, Civil begins questions the moral and ethics behind her work after finding out her first patients are two young Back girls aged 11 and 13.
Purchase the book here.
5. All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
Imagine having it all? An Ivy League law degree, great friends, a well-paying job, and a relationship with a rich, charming executive who just happens to be your white boss.
Well, that was Ellice Littlejohn life until she walks into his office one morning to find him dead! What would you do?
Purchase the book here.
6. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Queenie is a recent novel that has won the hearts of so many UK readers. It is a darkly funny, bittersweet novel about real young life in the UK. It’s a book about an ordinary Black woman in London, living an ordinary life full of tragic moments and frustration regarding her passive family, her job, and a lot of losses in love.
This book touches on race while intersecting language and its grammar with humour.
Purchase the book here.
7. When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
When No One Is Watching is a thriller that follows Sydney Green's life in Brooklyn when she and her neighbour Theo realise that the neighbours they've known all their life are disappearing. Sydney and Theo commit and decide to figure it all out.
Purchase the book here.
8. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
The Other Black Girl has been called “The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out” and here’s why.
The novel is a story of race, class, microaggression, and spiteful tactics. Set in a competitive and renowned Manhattan publishing house, Nella is a Black twenty-something from Connecticut, raised amongst white people and now working as the only Black person in her company. One day, her company hires Hazel, another Black girl. Hazel is from Harlem, wears amazing dreadlocks, and has just moved from Boston.
Shortly after Nella and Hazel get to know each other, Nella finds a note left on her desk which simply reads: “Leave Wagner Now”. Who is the culprit? Is it Hazel?
Purchase the book here.
9. Memphis by Tara M.Stringfellow
Memphis outlines three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter's realisation that she could conceivably change her family's legacy. The story is told through various points of view across the span of 70 years and investigates the complexity of inheritance, sacrifice, justice, and love.
Purchase the book here.
10. Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
Kiki Banjo, the host of a popular student radio show, has one mission: to keep the women of the Afro-Caribbean society at Whitewell University from falling from players. But when she kisses Malakai Korede, who she just denounced as the worst player of all, they are forced to fake a relationship to salvage their reputations. But the more Kiki gets to know Malakai, the more she wonders if her presumptions about him were wrong.
Purchase the book here.
11. Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
In this fake-dating-to-lovers story, Danika Brown agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him “rescuing” her from their office building goes viral. This book is the second book in The Brown Sisters Series collection by Talia Hibbert, which can be read separately and not in order.
Purchase the book here.
12. Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo
Anna feels lost now that her daughter is grown up and her mother is dead. Going through her mother’s things, Anna finds some clues to the identity of her African father she never knew. Surprisingly, Anna discovers he became the leader of a small African country and is still alive today.
Purchase the book here.
13. Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
When Olivia Monroe moves to LA, the last thing on her mind is dating. That is until she meets Max Powell and spends the entire night flirting back and forth with him at a hotel bar. When she realizes that he is a hotshot junior senator, she tries to stay away but simply can't help herself. Because of his high-profile job, they date in secret, but when it finally goes public, Olivia must decide if the public scrutiny is worth staying in their relationship or not.
Purchase the book here.
14. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Bestselling erotica author Eva Mercy starts to feel the pressure from trying to do it all as a single mom. When sparks fly between Eva and Shane Hall, a reclusive bestselling novelist, at a literary event, the Black literati takes note.
What they don’t know is that, as teenagers, Eva and Shane spent one torrid week in love before Shane broke her heart, and they’ve been writing to each other ever since.
Purchase the book here.
15. By The Book by Jasmine Guillory
This novel follows 25-year-old Isabelle as she finally sees an opportunity to get the promotion she deserves at her publishing house, she sets out to convince a high-profile author to finally deliver his manuscript. When she learns that Beau Towers is just as lost as she is these days, they encourage each other and learn that they have a lot more in common than they anticipated.
But will it all work out before their deadline?
Purchase the book here.
16. Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now by Dana L. Davis
Whilst still grieving the loss of her mum to cancer, Tiffany Sly has to pack up and leave her hometown of Chicago to move in with her biological dad she’s never known. Tiffany’s dad, Anthony Stone, is a rich man with four other daughters and strict house rules. Not only is she trying to adjust to her new luxurious lifestyle, but she’s struggling to get along with her standoffish siblings.
On top of it all, Tiffany also has a secret. Another man claims he’s her real dad and she only has a week to come clean before he shows up to demand a paternity test. Tiffany’s life has taken a sharp turn of events — and not in the way she anticipated.
Purchase the book here.
17. Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
Bad Feminist is a collection of essays that takes us through the journey of Gay’s evolution as a woman of colour navigating modern feminism. The book also touches on pop culture throughout the years.
Purchase the book here.
18. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye follows 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove, a Black girl in America who prays for her eyes to turn blue so she can be positively perceived in a society that favours white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes are the standard. Pecola feels that if she had at least one of these features, her whole world would be different.
Purchase the book here.
19. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
This novel follows the Vignes twin's decision to run away from their southern black community when they turned 16. As adults, their lives couldn’t be more different — one sister ended up moving back to the town she once ran from with her Black daughter. The other sister is white-passing, and her white husband doesn’t have a clue about her past.
Despite the distance, the Vignes twins’ stories are still intertwined, and they have yet to discover how their past will determine the future of their daughters.
Purchase the book here.
20. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abu Daré
The Girl with the Louding Voice highlights the coming-of-age of a Nigerian woman. All Adunni wants to do is get an education, so that she can craft her own future. When her father sells her as the third wife to a local man, Adduni runs away to the city, only to become a servant to a wealthy family.
Yet, Adunni finds that no matter her circumstances, she can still speak out for herself, and all the other girls just like her.
Purchase the book here.
