Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
When Eleanor Bennett dies, she leaves behind her grown children, a family recipe for Caribbean black cake and a voice recording which leads her heirs on a trip around the world to understand the mystery she left behind.
The Employees by Olga Ravn
Centuries from now, on a ship orbiting a distant planet, humans and their non-human counterparts share the misery and pettiness of a worklife not so distant from today’s trudgery. Told in a series of memos and incident reports, Ravn’s darkly funny novel reshuffles a sci-fi voyage into a riotously original existential nightmare.
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
From Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk comes this new novel about real-life religious figure Jacob Frank, an 18th-century Polish Jewish man who claimed to be the messiah.
Black Girls Must Be Magic By Jayne Allen
Not long ago, Tabitha received a devastating diagnosis and thought she’d never be able to have children. Now, she’s pregnant and determined to do what’s best for herself and her child. But when troubles arise with her ex, and her boss receives complaints about her hair, Tabitha must once again turn to the women in her life for help.
The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
For 35 years, Big Leo and Winnie Chao have owned and operated Fine Chao, an American Chinese restaurant in Haven, Wisconsin. They’ve been largely successful, but their good luck runs out when tragedy strikes, shortly after their sons — Dagou, Ming, and James — come home. Now, Big Leo is dead, and all of Haven is looking out for the culprit.
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
Crime writer Finlay Donovan gets drawn into another murder mystery in Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead. When she sees that someone’s accepted a $100,000 bounty on her ex-husband, posted on a secret message board, Finlay springs into action taking the bounty herself — at half the price — in a bid to save his life. But it quickly backfires when the identities of Finlay, her children, and their live-in nanny are exposed to the message board’s operators, as well as its owner: the Russian mobster Finlay helped to put away.
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
After a series of serious allegations are made against her husband, an English professor finds herself falling in love with a younger man — a visiting novelist, who’s also married.
Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters by Jessica P. Pryde
Book Riot’s Jessica P. Pryde edits this collection of essays from Black authors, thinkers, and celebrities, which examines Black love stories on the page, the screen, and in real life.
Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao
Just before Tam and Tony’s international adoption is slated to be finalised, Tony dies in an accident that also claims the life of his cousin, Mia. In the aftermath, Tam learns that Mia wanted her and Tony to raise her 5-year-old daughter in the event of her death. Now parenting a child she barely knows, Tam must decide whether or not she’ll also take in the son she and Tony intended to raise together.
Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel
Set in the late 2000s, Other People’s Clothes follows a pair of art students, Zoe and Hailey, who sublet a stunning Berlin apartment from a famous thriller writer. Believing themselves to be the inspiration for the author’s next novel, the two young women attempt to become characters worth writing about… with disastrous results.
Even When Your Voice Shakes by Ruby Yayra Goka
Ruby Yayra Goka’s debut novel centres on Amerley, a young woman from a small village who helps support her family by working for her mother’s friend in Accra. Her income is very much needed to fund her younger sisters’ education, so when Amerley is raped by her boss’ son, she struggles to decide whether to speak out or keep her head down.
The Last Grand Duchess by Bryn Turnbull
This is a story about dynast, duty and love. It is also a story of a family who would choose devotion to each other over everything else. Grand Duchess Olga Romano is content to live in her sheltered life but, as war approaches, she and her sisters trade gowns for nursing outfits to help tend to military officers. as tensions grow, this may be the end of the Romanov empire.
With Love from London by Sarah Jio
When Val was eleven years old, her mother, Eloise, left and moved back to her native London. Decades later, she received word that her mother has died and left her a bookstore. Val sets off to London to try and piece together her mother’s life and gain an understanding of the woman she never knew. Val finds herself with the possibility of new love as well as new understanding as she learns secrets buried long ago.
