This roundup of fiction and nonfiction views the richness and resilience of our past through the lenses of our most brilliant storytellers. Featuring freedom fighters and healers, barrier breakers and lovers, these books bring our history to life.
FICTION
The Rib King
by Ladee Hubbard
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The award-winning author of The Talented Ribkins is back with a turn of the 20th century tale of color, class and cultural appropriation. The Rib King blends dynamic elements of The Help with the suspense of a first-rate mystery. The multigenerational domestic staff in the employ of a once-wealthy white household support one another as adopted family. Meanwhile, in an effort to reverse his failing fortunes, their ‘benevolent’ employer lays claim to a mouthwatering sauce concocted by the cook, Mamie, that features the image of the groundskeeper August on the bottles. With almost no compensation, August is reinvented as “The Rib King.” He’s coerced on a tour to market the product. The plot’s twists and turns center on representation, resistance and revenge. After a year in which American marketers finally retired brands such as Uncle Ben, this well-timed drama explores the exploitation of Black genius.
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Libertie
by Kaitlyn Greenidge
This beautifully written Reconstruction-era novel takes its inspiration from the life of Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, one of the first Black female doctors in the U.S. The title character resists the desire of her mother, a physician, to choose the same profession. More interested in the arts, Libertie moves to Haiti with her husband. Struggling against the subordinate role expected of women in the 19th century women, she wonders what freedom really means, particularly for Black women.
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The Prophets