A list of some of the best novels you might want to read.
There was once a mother who was so afraid that her two-year-old daughter would be subjected to a life of slavery that she chose to pick up a butcher’s knife and kill her.
This is the story of Margaret Garner. In January 1856, she and her family escaped slavery but eventually found themselves surrounded by the people planning to return them to it. Garner could not bear the thought of that happening so she resolved to end the lives of her children before taking her own. People only managed to stop her after killing the first child. There were three more.
If you’ve never heard of this story before then perhaps you’re fortunate; maybe your circumstances don’t require you to know of such things; maybe you are even privileged enough to be shielded from the knowledge that life can degrade to such horrors.
But ignorance of such stories doesn’t stop one from making choices that empower those who’d push for such realities happen. It also doesn’t protect one from abuse should the abusers that enable such things find the need to expand their enterprise. Only knowledge and the will to act on knowledge can do that.
And this is one of the reasons why we have many stories worth reading, many Black women write fiction: to inform people and compel their humanity to action.
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
Since its publication in 1982, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker has won a number of awards and was included in at least two distinct “top 100” lists: it was part of BBC News’ “100 Most Inspiring Novels” and the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000–2010. This means at least two things: that it has something remarkable to say and it does so in a remarkable way.
The Pulitzer Prize seems to think so. And so does the National Book Award. It won in the fiction category of both in 1983. This is also believed by the many critics that tried to silence it even though they have never phrased it that way.
Set in the early 1900s, “The Color Purple” is an epistolary that follows the life of Celie, a poor Black girl whose sense of self-worth winds up being severely damaged. Most of the story is told through her letters to God which document the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her father (a man who beats and rapes her) and Mister, the husband, who also spends years mistreating her.
Sometime in the story, Celie gets separated from her beloved sister Nettie and while this leaves her feeling alone, she soon finds companionship in two women. One of them is Sofia, an outspoken, imposing and physically powerful woman who doesn’t allow men—including her husband Harpo—to dominate her. The other is Shug Avery, a blues singer known for her confidence, sensuality, and free-spiritedness. Her connection with the two leads Celie to a path that challenges the narrative created by the years of mistreatment she suffered from the significant men in the story and it also re-evaluates her relationship with God.
Following its release, “The Color Purple” has been met with strong reactions. its detractors bristled at the more sensitive corners of the story (from the mentions of the tender moments between Celie and Shug, to the depictions of abuse the former suffered.) The book was also accused of being blatant feminist propaganda while perpetuating the idea that Black men are violent. Meanwhile, its supporters praised it for its brave and moving depiction of the struggles poor Black women tend to face as well as the merits of sisterhood in a patriarchal setting—something that continues to exist and promotes this book ironically by riling against it.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” readers get a look at the divine (like some of the characters do.) But they are also given a look at what it means to be human. And this allowed this classic of Black literature to be both derided and praised.
Set in Florida, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” follows protagonist Janie Crawford as she “ripens” from a silenced teenager to an adult that could get “too mouthy” for a man’s liking. It traces her life as she goes through three marriages. The first was with an older farmer who expected Janie to be more like a laborer than a partner. The second was an initially charismatic but eventually domineering lover more concerned with his image than making Janie happy. The third was a much younger partner who was playful and passionate albeit his glaring imperfections. Throughout the novel, Janie also confronts “god” in the form of powerful natural forces (like the great 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.)
As the story progresses employing Hurston’s vast knowledge of Black folklore, dialect and culture, Crawford learns the power of her voice and her body: the capacity of both to afford life’s pleasures and weather its pains—and that didn’t sit well with some of its prominent readers.
Richard Wright, for example, was a notable writer in the Black community. He was a contemporary (and rival) of Hurston. In his review of the book, he acknowledged that Hurston “can write” but he was turned off by her work’s exploration of sexuality—viewing it as Hurston’s way of pandering to white readers. Wright also went on to deem that the book’s “sensory sweep” supposedly carries no theme, no message, no thought—even though his criticism of the book is based on the existence of all three and he just happened to not like what they deal with.
“In the main,” he wrote, “her novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy. She exploits that phase of Negro life which is ‘quaint,’ the phase which evokes a piteous smile on the lips of the ‘superior’ race.”
It also happens to be real as the book is loosely based on Hurston’s life. And while men like Wright disagreed with her decision to use that part of her story for her art, there were others who appreciated it. In an age when people have become less wary of sexuality; when it’s become more acceptable for women to want more than the kind of domesticity Janie rejected, when it is not a scandal for woman to discuss the kind of pleasure her body is capable of, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” came to be viewed in a better light. Now, it is seen as a feminist classic; a look into the oppression women experience and their right to be free from men who tell them what to think, want and—well—write.
“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler
In the Bible’s “Parable of the Sower,” Jesus talks about how seeds can fail to blossom because they land on surfaces that don’t welcome them.
The seeds were meant to represent the Gospel of the Lord but they could also be interpreted as general wisdom. And if the latter is the case, then Octavia E. Butler “Parable of the Sower” takes readers to a world where far too many seeds landed on way too many unwelcoming surfaces.
Set in a dystopian future many well-meaning scientists warned about, the “Parable of the Sower” sees the remainder of the human race struggling with climate change, economic collapse and social disorder. Its central figure is Lauren Olamina, a young woman gifted (or cursed) with hyperempathy, a power that allows her to feel the pain of others. She gets displaced from her home by violent attacks. So, she is forced to journey northward through lawless landscapes.
Along the way, she gathers followers and envisions a religion called Earthseed; its core belief is that “God is change,” underscoring that salvation can only be achieved by people who are willing to adapt. Its primary goal is for humanity to expand to space, among the stars like “seeds” from earth—an expression of change necessary to survive a dying planet.
A winner of multiple awards including the 1994 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, “Parable of the Sower”—published in 1993—was praised for its depiction of a future world that’s becoming all the more real as it ages. Considered a cornerstone of Afrofuturist literature, it continues to inspire discussions on climate change, race and the role of spirituality in society. It is a work of fiction but with world currently struggling with the ever-worsening climate crisis and with social unrest fulminating in various corners of the globe, will it end up being a guidebook? If it does, there is the consolation that, according to many, it is—at least—a well-written one.
“Sing, Unburied, Sing” by Jesmyn Ward
In Jesmyn Ward’s “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” the so-called buried resurface as the speed bumps of one’s journey through life.
The story follows Jojo, a 13-year-old mixed-raced boy raised by those he called Mam and Pop, two loving Black grandparents in a racially divided Mississippi. Joining his toddler sister Kayla, and their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, he finds himself in a journey to pick up his white father, Michael, from prison. But he ended up picking up so much more.
Along the way, Jojo meets Richie, a ghost who was once imprisoned with the former’s grandfather; Richie died while he was with Pop and is seeking closure. Meanwhile, Leonie, is haunted by the ghost of his murdered brother, Given, while grappling with her guilt, addiction, and the failure to properly provide for her children.
Employing lyrical prose, “Sing Unburied Sing” is the 2017 winner of the National Book Award for Fiction. It is a Southern Gothic that journeys through themes like generational trauma, mysticism, the scars of racial injustice, and the complex idea of love and survival in the American South where death, to some, is not the completion of one’s journey.
“An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones
Celestial and Roy make two halves of an American Marriage—and like many marriages in America, it isn’t just death that threatens to part them.
Written by Tayari Jones, “An American Marriage” follows the Black newlyweds as their vows are tested. Roy was wrongfully accused of sexual assault by an older woman. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, he was convicted and was sentenced to twelve years in prison partly due to racial bias in the justice system. While he is in prison, Celstial grows closer to her childhood friend Andre, creating a painful love triangle—especially after Roy is released early.
A winner of multiple awards including the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction, “An American Marriage”is a thought-provoking exploration of the fragility of relationships, racism, mass incarceration and love. Partly employing the epistolary style to depict the shifting emotions between characters, it is also an emotionally-gripping look into the idea of lost time and the heartbreaking changes attached to it.
Ultimately, An American Marriage is deep look into how difficult it is to keep vows in a country that can’t even live up to its promise of being the “land of the free.”
“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Ailey Pearl Garfield is intelligent, well-educated and driven. She has many of the traits needed to have an easier time in life—and this is exactly where her struggles come from.
It’s partly because of an idea by renowned sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois. In his career as one of the most influential voices in the Black community, Du Bois said that the exceptional should uplift their race and Ailey feels that burden on her shoulders. She feels the pressure to excel while dealing with the weight of her personal trauma and the constant presence of everyday racism.
To know why this is her reality, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” a novel by poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, explores the deep history of Ailey’s people through the story of her family. From the pre-colonial age, to the time of rampant slavery, to the Jim Crow era, to the Civil Rights Movement and into the modern age, it traces Ailey’s identity and rationalizes her struggles.
More than 800 pages long, this novel is an industrious effort that finds the poetry in the cold hard facts of history. It is an exploration of the African American story celebrated by a number of accolades. It was Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 2021, and was part of several lists for the best books of that.
To write it was to chase an ambitious project. And given what the book relates, it might just be a symptom of the weight someone like Du Bois can put on someone like Jeffers. But given its success, it would appear that she met that challenge.
“The Hate U Gave” by Angie Thomas
In “The Hate U Gave,” a girl stands to lose her friends, her image and the many privileges she has if she chooses to do the right thing.
The novel written by Angie Thomas follows the story of Starr Carter, a 16-year-old Black student enrolled by her parents in a wealthy mostly-white private school to give her a chance at a future far removed from her poor Black neighborhood. This, however, is put at risk after she witnesses a police officer fatally shooting her unarmed childhood friend, Khalil. As authorities and the media attempt to discredit Khalil, Starr is suddenly forced to make a choice: will she stay quiet to protect her peace and her family, or will she speak up and risk the future her parents wanted for her?
In America, so many of the marginalized are forced to make choices like this even at a young age. Do they maintain the status quo they can live with or do they embrace the reality that they deserve better and fight for it?
Thomas, the writer, made her choice—hence this book.
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison
In Cincinnati, Ohio, 1873, a formerly enslaved woman generally ostracized by her community refuses to leave the house she and her daughter live in even though she knows it is haunted.
Her name is Sethe and she thinks that the ghost is that of her older daughter, a child whose life she took to prevent her from growing up into a life of slavery. And from this premise, the story unfolds into Sethe’s painful, complicated and heartwarming process of healing.
A recipient of many prestigious awards including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” is an exploration of trauma, the power of memory, the importance of community and how complex motherhood and love can be for Black women. Inspired by Garner’s tragic life story, it is, at its core, a discussion on freedom and what it truly takes to achieve it. After all, even though one’s chains have been removed, the formerly enslaved may continue to feel the restraints of old habits, the deep wounds from their ordeal, and a past so haunting that it might as well be a ghost.
The facts that fuel fiction
For generations, Black women have used facts to enrich their fiction. Morrison is among the many examples. Her award-winning book “Beloved” was inspired by tragedy and to confronts the horrors of racism, slavery and the many things that befell her people.
Morrison, of course, is but one of many Black women writers who have contributed vastly to literature. And her choice of inspiration is but one of the many realities that affect the lives of Black women. There are others and their tales greatly vary. Some were tragic like Garner’s, others were far lighter. Many, however, were written with the hope that when others read their work, they endeavor to chase the good that they find and keep the bad in the pages of fiction.
