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Recommendations based on Silver Sparrowby Tayari Jones
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
A newlywed couple's lives are torn apart when the husband is wrongfully convicted of a crime. The novel explores love, loyalty, and injustice.
Roy, a sales representative for a textbook company, and Celestial, an artist specializing in custom made baby dolls, are newlyweds who live in Atlanta. After their first year of marriage they travel ... (Wikipedia)
The Coldest Winter Ever
by Sister Souljah
Coming of age story of a young girl's survival in a harsh, inner-city environment.
Renowned hip-hop artist, political activist, and bestselling author Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life in a powerful and utterly unforgettable first novel. I came busting into the ... (Goodreads)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
A woman's journey of self-discovery, liberation and empowerment.
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 ... (Goodreads)
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
by Ntozake Shange
A powerful collection of stories exploring the struggles and triumphs of African-American women.
In celebration of its highly anticipated Broadway revival, Ntozake Shange’s classic, award-winning play centering the wide-ranging experiences of Black women, now with introductions by two-time ... (Goodreads)
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
by Pearl Cleage
A woman's journey to discover her strength and identity in a small town.
The novel is separated into five parts: June, July, August, September, and November. , Ava Johnson, a young black woman living in Atlanta, is diagnosed with HIV which she contracted from an unknown ... (Wikipedia)
Sula
by Toni Morrison
Story of two childhood friends, exploring social and racial issues in a small Ohio town.
The novel begins when the construction of a golf course is announced, the site being the destroyed remnants of what used to be the Bottom. The Bottom is a black neighborhood on the hill above the ... (Wikipedia)
Wench
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
A story of the friendship between four female slaves, and their struggles to maintain hope and humanity.
Lizzie, a young enslaved African-American woman in the 1850s, is taken by her Southern white master Nathan Drayle for summers at Tawawa House in southwestern Ohio, a resort near what were also called ... (Wikipedia)
Disappearing Acts
by Terry McMillan
A love story between two African American working-class individuals, exploring the complexities of relationships and personal growth.
He was tall, dark as bittersweet chocolate, and impossibly gorgeous, with a woman-melting smile. She was pretty and independent, petite and not too skinny, just his type. Franklin Swift was a ... (Goodreads)
An Untamed State
by Roxane Gay
A woman's fight against her captors, as she struggles to survive the horrors of captivity.
Mireille Duval Jameson is born and raised in the United States, her parents are from Haitian descent. Her parents move back to Haiti. While vacationing at her parents' house with her husband and ... (Wikipedia)
A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
A black family's struggle for a better life and the dreams that accompany their journey.
Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and Walter's sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's south side. Walter ... (Wikipedia)
Wild Seed
by Octavia E. Butler
A shape-shifting immortal and a mortal healer's lives intertwine over centuries, exploring power, oppression, and the human condition.
Wild Seed is the story of two immortal Africans named Doro and Anyanwu. Doro is a spirit who can take over other people's bodies, killing anyone and anything in his path, while Anyanwu is a woman ... (Wikipedia)
Where We Belong
by Emily Giffin
A woman's struggle to reconcile her past and present, embracing an unexpected future.
The author of several blockbuster novels, Emily Giffin's, New York Times, bestseller,, Where We Belong, delivers an unforgettable story of two women, the families that make them who they are, and the ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Turner House
by Angela Flournoy
The Turner family's Detroit home is at the center of their struggles as they confront their past and present.
The novel tells the story of a Detroit family with 13 children as it responds to the economic woes of the city, in both the 1940s, and then in 2008. The house that sees the changes in the family, ... (Wikipedia)
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
Coming of age story of a young Black girl dealing with prejudice and racism in 1940s Ohio.
In Lorain, Ohio , nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry, and Pecola Breedlove, a temporary foster child whose house was ... (Wikipedia)
The Kitchen House
by Kathleen Grissom
A young Irish girl is taken in by a plantation family in Virginia and becomes entangled in the lives of the slaves who work there.
When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship ... (Goodreads)
Push
by Sapphire
A harrowing tale of a young girl's journey through poverty, abuse, and illiteracy in Harlem.
Claireece Precious Jones is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old girl who lives in Harlem with her abusive mother Mary. Precious is a few months pregnant with her second child, the product of her father ... (Wikipedia)
Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler
A modern woman is thrown back in time, forced to confront the harsh realities of slavery.
Kindred scholars have noted that the novel's chapter headings suggest something "elemental, apocalyptic, archetypal about the events in the narrative," thus giving the impression that the main ... (Wikipedia)
The Hypnotist's Love Story
by Liane Moriarty
A hypnotherapist's new love interest is stalked by his ex-girlfriend, who happens to be one of her patients.
Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. ... (Goodreads)
Song of Solomon
by Toni Morrison
A tale of family, heritage, and identity, exploring the power of memory and its impact on the present.
Song of Solomon opens with the death of Robert Smith, an insurance agent and member of The Seven Days, an organization that kills white people in retaliation for the racial killing of black people. ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic story of survival, hope, and the power of community.
This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with, 1984, or, The Handmaid's Tale," (John Green,, New York Times,)–now with a ... (Barnes & Noble)
Fortune's Rocks
by Anita Shreve
A forbidden summer romance between a married woman and a young man.
In the summer of 1899, Olympia Biddeford, a privileged, intelligent 15-year-old, and her parents have retired from the heat of Boston to the coastal resort of Fortune's Rocks. When the celebrated ... (Wikipedia)
Free Food for Millionaires
by Lee Min-jin
A young woman navigates the complexities of class, race, and identity in New York City.
The daughter of Korean immigrants, Casey Han has refined diction, a closeted passion for reading the Bible, a popular white boyfriend, and a magna cum laude degree in economics from Princeton, but no ... (Goodreads)
Labor Day
by Joyce Maynard
A single mother and her son take in an escaped convict over Labor Day weekend, leading to unexpected consequences.
Henry Wheeler, a man in his early 30s, recounts his thirteenth year. As Labor Day weekend approaches, 13-year-old Henry sees no reason why this weekend should be any different. He expects it to be as ... (Wikipedia)
Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
A woman's struggle to hold on to her identity in the face of a devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience ... (Goodreads)
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
An exploration of race, identity, and belonging as two Nigerian immigrants experience life in America and beyond.
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to ... (Goodreads)
Native Son
by Richard Wright
A young African American man's exploration of his identity, facing the harsh realities of systemic racism.
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black ... (Goodreads)
Children of Blood and Bone
by Tomi Adeyemi
In a world where magic has been suppressed, a young girl fights to bring it back and overthrow the oppressive monarchy.
The novel takes place in the fictional land of Orïsha, inhabited by two distinct people: divîners, who have the capability to become magical maji and are marked by white hair, and non-magical ... (Wikipedia)
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Exploration of African culture and traditions, grappling with the tension between modernity and tradition.
The novel's protagonist , Okonkwo, is famous in the villages of Umuofia for being a wrestling champion, defeating a wrestler nicknamed "Amalinze The Cat" (because he never lands on his back). Okonkwo ... (Wikipedia)
The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein
An uplifting story of a race car driver and the bond between humans and animals.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by ... (Goodreads)
Wreckage
by Emily Bleeker
A woman searches for answers about her past, uncovering secrets that will change her life.
Lillian Linden is a liar. On the surface, she looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash. But she’s been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her ... (Barnes & Noble)
