Interracial Fiction
Floating
by Nicole Bailey-Williams
Shanna Washington is the product of two very different worlds. Her white mother is a socialite with an Ivy League education; Shana's black father has a weakness for whiskey and can't stay faithful to any woman. But when his daughter is in peril, he always finds a way to rescue her. Hauntingly evoking the worlds represented by these three characters, Floating follows the life of Shana as she seeks acceptance – and wholeness – from white and black communities that only turn her away.
The Devil's Own Ragdoll by Matthew Bartoy
It's the start of the long, hot summer of 1943 in Detroit, the heart of America's war effort. Poor white and black Southerners are pouring into town looking for work as cheap factory labor, and racial tensions are running high. When a vivacious white heiress is brutalized and murdered in the black part of town, the city threatens to erupt into mob violence, bringing the airplane assembly lines and tank manufacturing plants to a grinding halt and imperiling Allied forces around the world.
The Color of Love by Cassandra Darden Bell
After 30 years of marriage, Greg and Rebecca Weaver take a painful look back at life as an interracial couple during the plight and passion of the Civil Rights Movement.The courtship starts during a time when it would have been more popular to murder someone than cross the "color line." Greg searches deep within himself to relate to his feelings about race relations and being married to a black woman. Rebecca, on the other shoe, tells her side of the story with all the conviction and strength of a woman with great virtue and courage. In The Color of Love we learn of life's trials and tribulations – faith and perseverance – and that true love and change starts on the inside and works it's way out.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her 26th birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum south. A woman from the 20th century, Dana is repeatedly brought back in time by her slave-owning ancestor Rufus when his life is endangered. She chooses to save him, knowing that because of her actions a free-born black woman will eventually become his slave and her own grandmother.
Passport Diaries by Tamara T. Gregory
Hollywood producer Gregory's fun-filled debut introduces stylish L.A. lawyer Kia Carson, who always tries to do the right thing, though she often disagrees with the political agenda of her boss, DA Holden. Burned out after three years prosecuting homicide cases, Kia is ready for a well-deserved vacation; however, traveling alone to Europe wasn't her preference – unknown to Kia's friends and family, her six-week holiday is a coverup for her job suspension after yet another clash with the DA. Kia is in for a wild ride as she opens herself to new experiences orchestrated by a variety of tour guides in such places as London and Paris. Greece, the last stop of her adventure, holds special intrigue following a chance encounter with a stateside friend, who just may hold the key to happiness and true love.
A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House
It is the early 1900s in rural Kentucky, and young Saul Sullivan is heading up to Redbud Camp to look for work. He is wary but unafraid of the Cherokee girl there whose beauty is said to cause the death of all men who see her. But the minute Saul lays eyes on Vine, he knows she is meant to be his wife. Vine's mother disapproves of the mixed marriage; Saul's mother, Esme, has always been ill at ease around the Cherokee people. But once Vine walks into God's Creek, Saul's mother and brother Aaron take to her immediately. It quickly becomes clear to Vine, though, that Aaron is obsessed with her. And when Saul leaves God's Creek for a year to work in another county, the wife he leaves behind will never be the same again. The violence that lies ahead for Vine, will not only test her spirit, but also her ability to forgive--both others and herself. . . .
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
When Arlene Fleet heads up north for college, she makes three promises to God: She will stop fornicating with every boy who crosses her path; never tell another lie; and never, ever go back to the "fourth rack of hell," her hometown of Possett, Alabama. All she wants from Him is one little miracle: make sure the body is never found." "Ten years later, God has broken His end of the deal. Alabama has landed on Arlene's Chicago doorstep in the form of her high school archenemy, a young woman who wants to find the golden-haired football hero who disappeared during their senior year." "To make matters worse, Arlene's African American boyfriend, Burr, has given her an ultimatum - introduce him to her lily-white family or he's gone.
Who Does She Think She is? by Benilde Little
Aisha Branch McCovney is a beautiful and stylish woman with Manhattan at her feet. She's also one of three generations of upwardly mobile black women who narrate this warm and indulgent fourth novel by Little (Good Hair). As Aisha prepares to marry her fabulously rich—and white—fiancé, her mother, Camille, and grandmother, Geneva, reminisce about their own lifelong struggles with love and pragmatism. At 45, Camille is ready to say good-bye to being a full-time single mother and hello to a love life of her own.
Meeting of the Waters: A Novel by Kim McLarin
During the explosive aftermath of Rodney King's police assailants' trial in L.A., veteran reporter Porter Stockman was attacked and almost beaten to death by rioters. Now back home in Philadelphia, Porter is elated to re-encounter Lenora "Lee" Page, a black woman who saved his life, but questions her motives for accepting a position at his newspaper office.
The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers
On Easter day 1939, a German Jewish migr scientist, meets a young Philadelphia Negro studying to be a singer. Their mutual love of music draws them together, and – against all odds and better judgment – they marry. They vow to raise their children beyond time, beyond identity, steeped only in song.
A Taste of Reality by Kimberla Lawson Roby
When Anise, a black woman, applies for a promotion to manager of human resources, she's impeded by a management team that wants an all-white male staff. As Anise fights racism, job discrimination and sexual harassment, she also finds herself in the midst of a divorce from her light-skinned husband, who wants a white wife. Then she begins a relationship with Frank, an Italian with a preference for black women. Tracey Leigh brings Roby's characters to life, giving even the villains depth and personality. Caricatures abound, but reality wins out in this story of pride and persistence.
Caucasia by Danzy Senna
A young girl learns some difficult lessons in Danzy Senna's debut novel Caucasia. Growing up in a biracial family in 1970s Boston, Birdie has seen her family disintegrate due to the increasing racial tensions. Her father and older sister move to Brazil, where they hope to find true racial equality, while Birdie and her mother drift through the country, eventually adopting new identities (Sheila and Jesse Goldman) and settling in a small New Hampshire town.
Boaz Brown by Michelle Stimpson
Prejudices that exist in the African-American church are addressed in this daring debut novel about a young Christian woman who finds her own racist attitudes – as well as those of her family, friends, and church – challenged when she is drawn to a man of a different race.
Cotton by Christopher Wilson
Meet the unforgettable Leifur Nils Kristjansson Saint Marie du Cotton (you can call him Lee). From his Icelandic father come his porcelain skin, flaxen hair and azure eyes; from his mixed-race mother comes his black identity; from his Mambo grandmother comes his gift of hearing Les Voix – the spirits, living and dead. Lee begins life as a black boy born white-skinned in segregated Eureka, Mississippi, in 1950. Over the course of Lee's first 20 years, he will fall in love with the daughter of a local Klansman, get kicked senseless and left for dead on a freight train headed north, end up in St. Louis as a white man, and be drafted into the psychops corps in Nevada.