South African Fiction

Brina After escaping the suffocating grip of a toxic relationship, I’m finally piecing my life back together. My job at Jourdain’s Bridal is thriving, and the shared condo Mike bought for me and my cousin Lorielle feels like a sanctuary. For the first time in ages, I feel like myself again. But when it comes to love, my heart is still on lockdown. Trey Ashton, the charming cop circling my world, isn’t about to change that—not if I can help it. Lately, Trey’s been around, helping Mike to prepare for his big proposal to Lorielle. I think I’m starting to figure him out—steady, ...

Isaac is at a crossroads in his young life. Growing up in Missouri, the son of a caustic, hard-driving father, he was conditioned to suppress his artistic pursuits and physical desires, notions that didn’t align with a traditional view of masculinity. But now, in late ’80s Chicago, Isaac has finally carved out a life of his own. He is sensitive and tenderhearted and has built up the courage to seek out a community. Yet just as he begins to embrace who he is, two social catalysts—the AIDS crisis and Rodney King’s attack—collectively extinguish his hard-earned joy.

It’s another murder in the little town of Roble. But not to worry, Romaine and Auntie Zanne are on it! It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—that’s because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a...

This is a non-stop rollicking adventure story set in Southern Africa. George and Matilda with their young associate William and his new boyfriend, Jake, are forced into a search for an unusual orchid potentially worth billions of dollars. But what happened to the geologist who found the flower while prospecting for alluvial diamonds in an inhospitable part of the Dark Continent? George and his associates must face a multitude of dangers in their quest as they try to decide what are the real threats? Are they facing supernatural creatures with human bodies and animal heads; are there really ...

Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

In Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, a Black author sets out on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Hell of a Book and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more urgent: Mott’s novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour.

Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. Through enduring friendships with Hymie and Gideon, Peekay gains the strength he needs to win out. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, the Judge, Peekay will fight to the death for justice.

She’s my homeboy’s little sister, eight years younger than me to be exact. My smart meddling mother has set up an appointment for her to come to my house, and I’m not sure if that is a good idea for her or me. Detra Lane I've played it safe by only taking clients who are hitched, about to be hitched, or old enough to not even matter. But when one of my best customers calls me for a private appointment for her son, Gadsen Towners, I can’t refuse. Little do I know, things are about to happen, and quick. Gadsen Towners I’ve had my eyes on Detra Lane since the day I met her. She was ...

Gracie Hollaman finally decides to follow the voices in her head. She leaves behind her family for the small African-American town of Rockrun to join Mama Toot and Mattie. Together, the three will learn to shed their pasts to begin life anew.

The Lovett family was just like any other working class family trying to live the American dream, but when tragedy strikes it sends them on a new adventure to try and rebuild their lives. They move from the Windy City of Chicago Illinois, to a small town down south. Right on the Bible Belt. There, they purchase their dream home and open up a family practice. Everyone is so friendly and the Lovett's fit right in. There's just one thing... nobody stays out after the sunset. The Lovett's chalk this up to small town superstition. That is, until one of the kid's friends comes up missing! As if ...

Khian "Khi" Prince has the ladies going crazy. He's a certified boss with what seems to be the weight of the world on his shoulders. After failing at love twice, Khi's not ready to give up yet, and when he runs into Cuba Lance, he's certain he has finally gotten it right. But when Cuba shatters his heart all over again, will Khi give up on love once and for all? Daelan "Dae" Prince is the ultimate bad boy. With the love of his life and their five-year-old son by his side, Dae seems to have his happily ever after. But things are never what they seem.

When Ann Waite discovers a shipwreck in Algoa Bay she is stunned to find survivors: a scarred sailor and a little boy. As the man walks away into the distance alone, Ann is left to raise the young child, Harry, in place of the baby she tragically lost at sea. Disaster and hardship befall Ann and Harry, and desperation drives them into the path of the mysterious shipwrecked man once more. Ralph Courtney has recently escaped Robben Island with two fellow prisoners and is destined to seek his fortune at Nativity Bay, the fabled place about which his father told him stories.

She’s my friend with benefits. But I fooled around and fell in love. She tore my heart apart. 🖤 Patricia Fox 🖤 I've played the game like a woman should. Have sex, have fun, and don’t get caught up. But I did. So, I did the next best thing…because at the end of the day, I’m not having a child by myself. But, I took the pill. Played the game again. This time secured… But when playing with sin, one never wins and you can never be so secure. 🖤 Melvin Paul 🖤 I’ve been in love with Patricia from day one. Sexy thick, in all the right places. Mocha skin smoothed enough to ...

In the small college town of Troy, Alabama, amidst the backdrop of 1967, Katia Daniels lives a life steeped in responsibility. At the Pike County Group Home for Negro Boys, she pours her heart into nurturing the young lives under her care, harboring a longing for children of her own. Katia's romantic entanglement with an older man brings comfort but also stirs questions about the path she's chosen.

The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends.

Back in the days when things were cool... Joseph “Joe Doe” Henry was a young man on the right path with big dreams. He was raised to always get his own, and that hard work always paid off. But when he meets Ramona, a girl that he wants to give the world, he knows that his little side hustle won’t be enough to afford her the life he feels she deserves. With his friends Beast, Ratchet, and Twin sharing his mentality, one fateful night set them up for a successful life. But with success comes envy and drama. Joe Doe soon finds out who really has his back, and who can’t be trusted. ...

After years of self-exile, Jacinda “Jac” Brodie is back in Brook Haven, South Carolina. But the small cliffside town no longer feels like home. Jac hasn’t been there since the beloved chief of police fell to his death—and all the whispers said she was to blame. That chief was Jac’s father. Racked with guilt, Jac left town with no plans to return. But when her granddad lands in the hospital, she rushes back to her family, bracing herself to confront the past.

Since childhood, identical twins Leona and Fiona Dunbar have been getting in—and out—of trouble by pretending to be each other. Yet underneath, they couldn’t be more different. Outspoken Leona lives to break rules, have a good time, and scandalize their respectable hometown of Lexington. Fiona is a seemingly demure churchgoing girl who is the apple of her domineering, widowed mother Mavis’s eye. But together, the twins have fooled teachers, boyfriends, bosses, racist police—and most importantly, straitlaced Mavis.

Gold medalist in the 2024 FAPA President’s Book Awards! Excerpt: It seemed the daughter, at only eight or nine years old, had more wisdom than her mother and all the others involved, including the deputy, all the witnesses at the scene of the accident, and the judge. That blessed little child bravely hopped up to the witness box and told her story. “I was asleep last night and heard a woman calling me. She said ‘Wake up, Dora, wake up!’ When I opened my eyes, a beautiful angel with long, blonde hair and blue eyes was standing by my bed. I knew she was an angel because she had wings ...

It’s a hot and sticky Sunday in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Glory has settled into her usual after-church routine, meeting gamblers at the local coffee shop, where she works as a small-time bookie. Sitting at her corner table, Glory hears that her best friend—a nun beloved by the community—has been found dead in her apartment. When the police declare the mysterious death a suicide, Glory is convinced that there must be more to the story and, with her reluctant daughter in tow, launches a shadow investigation in a town of oil tycoons, church gossips, and a rumored voodoo priestess.