The best historical fiction books by African American authors

Book cover of The Underground Railroad Book cover of The Water Dancer Book cover of Song Yet Sung Book cover of Beloved Book cover of Roots: The Saga of an American Family

The best fiction with gorgeous, nuanced writing that elevates the overlooked experience of moms

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The best speculative novels that fictionalize history

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The best gothic fiction imbued with atmosphere and dread

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The best books for grown-up time travelers

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The best books about how we unlock secrets about the past

Book cover of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake Book cover of Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution Book cover of The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches Book cover of Beloved Book cover of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

The best books on understanding the criminal mind

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The best books about haunting: how the past lingers with us

Book cover of The Farming of Bones Book cover of Beloved Book cover of The Book of Lost Saints: A Cuban American Family Saga of Love, Betrayal, and Revolution Book cover of These Ghosts Are Family Book cover of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

The best dysfunctional family novels about mythmaking

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The best coming of age books with strong female characters, family secrets, and a touch of magic

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The best books that walk the line between real and imaginary

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The best modern gothic mystery books

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The best compelling creepy books

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The best books that bring together the characters’ life of feeling and their cultural context and moment in history

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The best books about birth, one of our greatest underexplored subjects

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The best novels whose women characters don’t or won’t conform

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The best books that bring history to life in all its strange and unsettling glory

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The best books where the past is another country, and you want to visit it

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The best books that only get better with time

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The best literary novels for inducing laughter and tears on the same page

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