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Jesmyn Ward is a prolific writer and poignant storyteller crafting unforgettable thought-provoking novels tackling relevant social issues. Her novels transcend time and elicit visceral emotions as they impart profound insight into the human condition, especially Black Americans, with immense grace and empathy. Here are 10 gripping titles for Jesmyn Ward fans.

All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

Cosby ingeniously crafts a compelling main character, and an unpredictable plot, and grapples with a town’s moral compass taking readers on a multilayered and twisted ride.
All The Sinners Bleed is a riveting fast-paced thriller novel that follows, Titus Crown, a former FBI agent, and Charon County’s first Black sheriff, as he and his department investigate a fatal shooting that appears to be an open and shut case but quickly unravels into something much more sinister than smalltown, Charon County, Virginia anticipated.

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A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

Power beautifully amplifies the voices of Indigenous affected by Indian boarding schools and ruthless massacres of Indigenous people. A Council of Dolls is a profound novel told through alternating perspectives: Sissy, Lillian and Cora and their astonishing connection through the dolls they carried.

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The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Due skillfully transports readers on a journey unveiling the harsh reality for young boys in the Jim Crow South who attended the notorious Dozier School for Boys. The Reformatory takes place in Gracetown, Florida in 1950 following twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr. as he serves his six-month sentence. Robbie isn’t like most boys, he has a talent for seeing ghosts and quickly learns the horrifying outcome for boys who go “missing” at the reformatory.

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The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis

A sweeping multi-generational novel set in the 1980s exploring familial dynamics, destructive relationships, and new beginnings. Ava Carson and her son, Toussaint, arrive in Philadelphia in 1985 determined to leave behind Ava’s estranged mother, Dutchess, in Bonaparte, Alabama. Despite Ava’s best efforts to desperately provide a better life for Toussaint filled with love, her past keeps creeping into her present.

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The House on Sun Street by Mojgan Ghazirad

The House on Sun Street follows young Moji as her innocence and curiosity are seized when she and her family are thrusted into the 1979 Iranian revolution. Embarking on an uncertain future, Moji is viewed as the opposition among her US classmates, her father is detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Army, and social injustice impacts women in post-revolution Iran. Ghazirad delivers a harrowing narrative evoking visceral emotions and illuminating the impacts of the 1979 Iranian revolution.

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Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

A powerful dystopian novel following the two top female gladiators, Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, as they battle for their freedom from Criminal Action Penal Entertainment. Adjei-Brenyah eloquently examines America’s prison system, the convoluted intricacies of systemic racism and capitalism and their undeniable impact on mass incarceration and the apathy for humanity.

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Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

A resilient narrative follows The Kindred sisters, Ezra and Cinthy, as the Civil Rights Movement encroaches on their small New England town, Salt Point, in the summer of 1957. As echoes of freedom and equality make their way North, the white residents in Salt Point are unenthused and suspicious of the two Black families in town. Griffiths delivers a redemptive novel rich with love, compassion and courage as Ezra and Cinthy perform tremendous acts to affirm their belonging.

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Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward

A haunting novel told from alternating perspectives is filled with magical realism unraveling the ghosts of the past and present while simultaneously examining love and loss in a Mississippi family. All characters, both living and dead, carry the weight of their pain desperately searching for the answers to their suffering.

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The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

In this searing novel inspired by true events, Whitehead exposes the horrors of a reform school in Florida and the scars of systemic racism through the eyes of two young Black boys. Elwood is a staunch follower of Dr. Martin Luther King and Turner, a realist who views the world as crooked. Elwood Curtis and Turner are an unlikely pair but a friendship grows out of necessity, especially in a place where your survival skills are all you have.

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The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

A captivating novel set in the 1950s in North Dakota following Thomas Wazhushk, the night watchman and Chippewa Council member, as he battles to protect the rights of his community against the imposing threat of a new congressional bill that could irrevocably disrupt their way of life. Erdrich’s lyrical prose and vivid characters beautifully capture the power of community and unwavering hope.

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