In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her eighteen-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and...  more

In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her eighteen-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and African-American roots, showcasing her best writing yet.Trina suffers from bipolar disorder, making her paranoid, wild, and violent. Watching her child turn into a bizarre stranger, Keri searches for assistance through normal channels. She quickly learns that a seventy-two hour hold is the only help you can get when an adult child starts to spiral out of control. After three days, Trina can sign herself out of any program. Fed up with the bureaucracy of the mental health community and determined to save her daughter by any means necessary, Keri signs on for an illegal intervention. The Program is a group of radicals who eschew the psychiatric system and model themselves after the Underground Railroad. When Keri puts her daughter’s fate in their hands, she begins a journey that has her calling on the spirit of Harriet Tubman for courage. In the upheaval that follows, she is forced to confront a past that refuses to stay buried, even as she battles to secure a future for her child. Bebe Moore Campbell’s moving story is for anyone who has ever faced insurmountable obstacles and prayed for a happy ending, only to discover she’d have to reach deep within herself to fight for it.

"This book is about succeeding--and surviving--even being happy, in a society where every card seems stacked against you. If this is a fair world, Bebe Moore Campbell will be remembered as the most important African-American novelist of this century--except for, maybe, Ralph Ellison and...  more

"This book is about succeeding--and surviving--even being happy, in a society where every card seems stacked against you. If this is a fair world, Bebe Moore Campbell will be remembered as the most important African-American novelist of this century--except for, maybe, Ralph Ellison and James Bladwin"-- Carolyn See, Washington Post Book World

"ABSORBING...COMPELLING...HIGHLY SATISFYING."--San Francisco Chronicle"TRULY ENGAGING...Campbell has a storyteller's ear for dialogue and the visual sense of painting a picture and a place....There's a steam that keeps the story moving as the characters, and later their children, wrestle through...  more

"ABSORBING...COMPELLING...HIGHLY SATISFYING."--San Francisco Chronicle"TRULY ENGAGING...Campbell has a storyteller's ear for dialogue and the visual sense of painting a picture and a place....There's a steam that keeps the story moving as the characters, and later their children, wrestle through racial, personal and cultural crisis."--Los Angeles Times Book Review"REMARKABLE...POWERFUL."--Time"YOUR BLUES AIN'T LIKE MINE is rich, lush fiction set in rural Mississippi beginning in the mid-'50s. It is also a haunting reality flowing through Anywhere, U.S.A., in the '90s....There's love, rage and hatred, winning and losing, honor, abuse; in other words, humanity....Campbell now deserves recognition as the best of storytellers. Her writing sings."--The Indianapolis News"EXTRAORDINDARY."--The Seattle Times"A COMPELLING NARRATIVE...Campbell is a master when it comes to telling a story."--Entertainment WeeklyYOUR BLUES AIN'T LIKE MINE won the NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Work of Fiction

National bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has captured the voice, the emotional life, and the heart of her readers. "Here and Now" showcases what Roby does best, offering an involving, powerful story filled with complex and engaging characters who must learn to cope with...  more

National bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has captured the voice, the emotional life, and the heart of her readers. "Here and Now" showcases what Roby does best, offering an involving, powerful story filled with complex and engaging characters who must learn to cope with heartache, happiness -- and each other. Brilliant and vibrant, Marcella Jones had it all until she gave her heart to the wrong man. Tyrone was handsome and charismatic, but he left her destitute, raising two small children alone -- and yearning for the kind of life her dead-end job will never provide. Marcella's older sister Racquel lives in a fine home, has a fulfilling career, and the love of Kevin, her handsome, successful, supportive husband. Yet her desperate longing for a child is driving her into a deep depression, and away from Kevin. As different as night and day, Marcella and Racquel are so hungry for what the other has, they are tearing their lives apart. Only with each other's help can they heal the hurt and celebrate the joy of everything that's been given to them.

On the surface, Anise seems to have it all: a successful career, a solid marriage, and good friends. But when she applies for a promotion at work, she loses out to a white colleague who isn't nearly as qualified for the job. And after being married for four seemingly blissful years, she...  more

On the surface, Anise seems to have it all: a successful career, a solid marriage, and good friends. But when she applies for a promotion at work, she loses out to a white colleague who isn't nearly as qualified for the job. And after being married for four seemingly blissful years, she discovers that her husband is having an affair. To make matters worse, her best friend in the office is keeping dangerous secrets. But Anise is no quitter. As brave as she is determined, she reaches deep inside her soul to find the strength and courage to overcome heartbreak and stay her course. Ultimately she will discover that everything worth having is worth fighting for -- in her career and, most importantly, in her heart.

In the first novella by the New York Times bestselling author of the Reverend Curtis Black series, a wife and a husband receive a surprise that will change their lives forever Kennedi Mason thinks she's the luckiest woman on earth. She loves her job, she has a wonderful best friend, and she's...  more

In the first novella by the New York Times bestselling author of the Reverend Curtis Black series, a wife and a husband receive a surprise that will change their lives forever Kennedi Mason thinks she's the luckiest woman on earth. She loves her job, she has a wonderful best friend, and she's been married for ten years to her soul mate. There's nothing she can think of that could make her life any better. Then one fateful day Kennedi receives a piece of news that will turn her world upside down. She's excited about it, and she knows that her husband, Blake, will be over the moon. He has always dreamed of this one thing happening, and she can't wait until he comes home so she can tell him. But when she sees Blake that evening, he has a special announcement of his own. It shocks Kennedi into silence and wipes the admission she was planning to make right out of her mind. In an instant, her life and her marriage have changed, but not at all in the way that she had expected. A poignant and satisfying story of hope, Kimberla Lawson Roby's One in a Million beautifully shows us the difference between what we think we want and what we actually need to be truly happy.

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her...  more

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Precious is a 16-year-old who has never left Harlem. Her story is one of neglect and abuse and a fierce determination to acquire an education. Pregnant by her own father, she is forced to leave school. Her defences and her world unravel as she struggles to gain control of her own life.

A phenomenal #1 bestseller that has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and...  more

A phenomenal #1 bestseller that has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and women,Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people--and the times--that touched her life.

The new novel from the masterful national bestselling author of Defining Moments. Jacquelin Thomas has embraced the power of love and forgiveness in her award-winning novels. Now she explores the rewards of Redemption as a woman's desperate choices threaten to destroy her.

After her big brother Curtis is gunned down in the streets of Brooklyn, Angel's family crumbles. Grief stricken, her mother turns to heroin to ease her pain. She doesn't notice that her son has no food or that her daughters' clothes are torn and dirty. Worst of all, she doesn't see what her...  more

After her big brother Curtis is gunned down in the streets of Brooklyn, Angel's family crumbles. Grief stricken, her mother turns to heroin to ease her pain. She doesn't notice that her son has no food or that her daughters' clothes are torn and dirty. Worst of all, she doesn't see what her boyfriend does to Angel behind closed doors. Desperate to support her younger brother and sister, Angel hits the streets looking for anything or anyone to help. But she's fifteen years old, so options for legal work are few. As a last resort, she turns to her brother's best friend, Antoine, who arranges for a job for her at a strip club. It's only supposed to be for a while, until she can get her working papers. Angel is convinced she won't fall victim to the streets like her mother. But the fast life has its temptations and a magical ability to make you forget.

Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand...  more

Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.

Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots. Zora Neale Hurston's classic 1937 novel follows...  more

Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots. Zora Neale Hurston's classic 1937 novel follows Janie from her nanny's plantation shack to Logan Killick's farm, to all-Black Eatonville-where she gathers in"the great fish net" of her life. Janie's quest for identity takes her on a journey during which she learns what love is, experiences life's joys and sorrows, and comes home to herself in peace.

An intense and poised novel in the form of a letter written by Ramatoulaye, who has recently been widowed.

As Mariama Ba wrote this, her second novel, she was aware that she was dying, yet she writes with crusading vigour in defence of women, as one who revels in the art of story-telling.

Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy- and she does it all. In fact, if she doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, from Little League carpool duty to analyzing portfolios to folding the laundry and bringing home the bacon. She does...  more

Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy- and she does it all. In fact, if she doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, from Little League carpool duty to analyzing portfolios to folding the laundry and bringing home the bacon. She does it all well, too, if her chic house, personal trainer, BMW, and her loving son are any indication. So what if there's been no one to share her bed with lately, let alone rock her world? Stella doesn't mind it too much; she probably wouldn't have the energy for love - and all of love's nasty fallout - anyway. But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world gets rocked to the core - not just by the relaxing effects of the sun and sea and an island full of attractive men, but by one man in particular. He's tall, lean, soft-spoken, Jamaican, smells of citrus and the ocean - and is half her age. The tropics have cast their spell and Stella soon realizes she has come to a cataclysmic juncture: not only must she confront her hopes and fears about love, she must question all of her expectations, passions, and ideas about life and the way she has lived it. Told in Stella's own exuberant, dead-on, dead honest voice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back is full of Terry McMillan's signature humor, heart, and insight. More than a love story, it is ultimately a novel about how a woman saves her own life - and what she must risk to do it.

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes...  more

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

A visionary cast of characters weave together their past and present in a brilliantly intricate tapestry of tales.It is the story of the dispossessed and displaced, of peoples whose history is ancient and whose future is yet to come. Here we meet Lissie, a woman of many pasts; Arveyda the great...  more

A visionary cast of characters weave together their past and present in a brilliantly intricate tapestry of tales.It is the story of the dispossessed and displaced, of peoples whose history is ancient and whose future is yet to come. Here we meet Lissie, a woman of many pasts; Arveyda the great guitarist and his Latin American wife who has had to flee her homeland; Suwelo, the history teacher, and his former wife Fanny who has fallen in love with spirits. Hovering tantalizingly above their stories are Miss Celie and Shug, the beloved characters from THE COLOUR PURPLE.

From the author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman comes a deep and compassionate novel. A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of...  more

From the author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman comes a deep and compassionate novel. A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting.

Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952.  A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph...  more

Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952.  A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century.  The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.  The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.