New Historical Fiction by Black Authors
One of my favorite parts of becoming more involved in the book industry through my work at Book Riot over the last seven years is keeping up with new releases. I can’t quite explain the exhilaration and anticipation I feel when I learn about a great new book coming out later in the year. Knowing I’ll have to wait for it (even if I do manage to snag an advanced reader’s copy) is part of the fun. Being able to recommend them to other readers who might not have heard of them yet is a big part of it, too. I love exposing readers to books I think they’ll love—especially if they haven’t heard of them yet.
These particular books are a slew of new historical fiction by Black authors coming out this year. The stories span from 1800s post Civil War America and 1930s Lagos to 1990s South Carolina. They include new and upcoming releases, as well as other books published in 2024. As always, I think you’re really going to enjoy them.
Bookish Goods
Black Author Tote Bag from Bookishly UK
Carry your books around in style with this gorgeous typographic tote created in collaboration between Bookishly UK and Afropop. $28
New Releases
Ida, in Love and in Trouble by Veronica Chambers
Release date: September 10, 2024
Before she became the famous activist and pioneering investigative journalist we all know, Ida B. Wells was a girl—a girl with a quick wit and enormous dreams. The first daughter of newly freed parents, Ida became a caretaker for her younger siblings when her parents died of Yellow Fever. From becoming a teacher and pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, Ida created exactly the life she wanted for herself in a time when women, especially Black women, were given few, if any, options.
The Parlour Wife by Foluso Agbaje
Release date: September 6, 2024
World War Two is sending shockwaves around the globe, including in Lagos where Kehinde must put aside her dreams of becoming a writer to be a third wife instead. But when she meets the leader of the Lagos Women’s Market Association, fighting back against the British attempts to strip people of their rights, Kehinde finds purpose again. It’s a purpose she must keep secret, though, because if her husband finds out, he will abandon her. Even as Kehinde fights for herself and all the women like her, she’s forced to play the part of the perfect wife lest she lose everything because of a man and a war she never asked for.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
When I realized both featured new releases this week were by Black authors, I decided we might as well go all in. Here are three other 2024 new historical fiction releases by Black authors to read.
Keep A’Livin’ by Kathya Alexander
In 1960s Arkansas, Mandy Anderson wakes up on her mother’s birthday to the familiar sound of her pounding biscuit dough in the kitchen. It’s the middle of summer, and the air is full of humid heat, only made worse by the baking. So why, Mandy wonders, didn’t the white woman her mother works for give her the day off for her birthday? It’s a question that sets Mandy on a journey of questioning, discovery, and activism that will change the course of her life for good.
Swift River by Essie Chambers
It’s the summer of 1987, and Diamond Newberry is finally learning how to drive after years of hitchhiking with her mother. Ever since her Pop left, she and her mother have been on their own, and Diamond is teased relentlessly for all the things that make her different: her weight, her hitchhiking, and her skin color. Without Pop, Diamond is the only Black person in all of Swift River. Her mom is eager to declare Pop legally dead so they can finally get their lives back in order. But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative on her Pop’s side, she discovers a complicated family history that helps her understand life in a new way.
Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron
In an all-Black working-class suburb in South Carolina in the 1990s, three generations try to build the lives they’ve always wanted for themselves. Mika’s grandparents, raised under Jim Crow, achieved their dream of buying a house in the 1960s, while her parents now work multiple jobs to make sure their kids can enjoy vacations. Mika’s older sister listens to Alanis Morissette instead of Motown. But through all their similarities and differences, Mika’s family and community stand together in a world all too often determined to see Black people fall.
If you want to talk books, historical or otherwise, you can find me @rachelsbrittain on most social media, including Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy.
Right now, I’m reading Five Star Stranger by Kat Tang and Frog Music by Emma Donoghue.
