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Hey there, Reader Friend!

February is Black History Month, and as a reader, it seems like the right time to reflect on the voices we’re amplifying on our shelves.

I’m a white woman book lover and my reading life is richer when it includes perspectives beyond my own. Diverse authors expand my understanding of the world.

This month, I’m highlighting a few powerful novels by Black authors that moved me. Now, we already discussed The Catch by Yrsa Dailey-Ward. Just please go buy the hardcover. But moving on.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

I recently finished The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. The novel follows twin sisters from a fictional town whose residents are all light-skinned Black. As young women, the sisters leave home and choose very different paths, and their lives unfold in ways that couldn’t be more opposite.

At its heart, this story explores what it means to hide who you are and what happens when the truth refuses to stay buried. I picked up the book out of curiosity after seeing it selected for the GMA Book Club, and I was struck by how fully realized the characters felt. Spanning decades, the novel offers a layered look at racial tension in the United States and the ways those pressures shape individual lives.

If you’re drawn to character-driven stories that examine identity, family, and belonging, this one is worth your time.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones centers on one couple and the devastating event that threatens to unravel their life together. When the husband is unjustly imprisoned, the novel quietly but powerfully asks: can a marriage survive that kind of rupture?

From the first page, the characters feel startlingly real. The emotional landscape of the marriage is rendered with care and complexity, and the novel examines love, loyalty, injustice, and the strain placed on relationships by forces beyond our control.

If you appreciate intimate stories that wrestle with big questions, this is a compelling read.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi is a 2020 novel centered on a Ghanaian-American family living in Alabama. The story follows Gifty, a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience, as she navigates the intersection of faith, science, grief, and family history.

This one resonated with me personally. Gifty’s lab work brought me back to my own bench research days studying Alzheimer’s disease in medical school. Gyasi captures the quiet intensity of scientific inquiry so well. But like most lives, Gifty’s world is far larger than her profession. The novel is layered with family dynamics, cultural identity, addiction, loss, and the search for meaning.

It’s intimate, thoughtful, and expansive all at once.

I hope you get the chance to to read these soon if you haven't yet. Reply and let me know what Black authors you've been reading.

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Happy Reading!

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P.S. Here are some helpful links if you need them.

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Buy the Book "Sharp, funny and often painfully honest." --Literary Titan "I started to read it and I could not put it down." --Reader Review Set against the backdrop of a tight-knit community, this emotionally charged women’s fiction novel explores the complexities of motherhood, the struggle to rebuild broken relationships, and the courage it takes to find hope after trauma. For readers who crave raw, authentic stories of family drama, second chances, and the unbreakable strength of the human spirit. ​Find the ebook, audiobook and paperback here.​

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