When a wife becomes the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, this criminal psychologist must forget everything she thought she knew in order to clear her name in this debut psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Shanora Williams’ The Wife Before.

Cassidy Evans is the blueprint. As a Criminal Psychologist, Cassidy is a savant. She spent years solving groundbreaking cases by shifting through the minds and behaviors of those driven by the darkness that controls them. After years of dedicated field work, Cassidy decides to retire and share her expertise of killers’ mentalities as a novelist.

As a published author, she’s now happily married and spends most of her time traveling the world and sharing with others how to understand the twisted minds that drive bad behaviors. Unfortunately, with all of the knowledge that Cassidy is armed with, she somehow overlooks the lies of the person closest to her. When she tags along to a crime scene with and old colleague, Cassidy is shocked to discover that the victim is her husband. If that’s not enough to send her world spiraling, she also finds out that the identity of the murdered victim, doesn’t match the name on their marriage license.

Things quickly escalate when Cassidy becomes the main suspect. Not knowing the man she is married to is the least of Cassidy’s problems. Everyone believes she is a murderer, and none more than the lead detective on the case¾Nathanial Davis. He is determined to find the truth while proving to the world that Cassidy isn’t who she claims to be. In doing so, he decides to keep Cassidy close while digging through her past to uncover all of her untold truths.

While she’s hiding secrets that could totally destroy the world she spent years building, Cassidy learns that things are never what they seem. With such an intricate familiarity of seeing through lies, how is it that Cassidy is happily married to a man who she loves and adores, but doesn’t truly know? Suddenly, losing her career is far less important than maintaining her freedom. In the end, she may lose both.

A novel by a brilliant new voice, Hombrecito is a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant’s complex relationships with his mother and his motherland

In this groundbreaking novel, Santiago Jose Sanchez plunges us into the heart of one boy’s life. His mother takes him and his brother from Colombia to America, leaving their absent father behind but essentially disappearing herself once they get to Miami.

In America, his mother works as a waitress when she was once a doctor. The boy embraces his queer identity as wholeheartedly as he embraces his new home, but not without a sense of loss. As he grows, his relationship with his mother becomes fraught, tangled, a love so intense that it borders on vivid pain but is also the axis around which his every decision revolves. She may have once forgotten him, disappeared, but she is always on his mind.

He moves to New York, ducking in and out of bed with different men as he seeks out something, someone, to make him whole again. When his mother invites him to visit family in Colombia with her, he returns to the country as a young man, trying to find peace with his father, with his homeland, with who he’s become since he left, and with who his mother is: finally we come to know her and her secrets, her complex ambivalence and fierce love.

Hombrecito—“little man”—is a moving portrait of a young person between cultures, between different ideas of himself. From an extraordinary new talent, this is a story told with startling beauty and intensity, a story for anyone searching for home, searching for a way to love.

Why is less than 1% of rural land in the U.S. owned by Black people? An acclaimed writer and activist explores the impact of land theft and violent displacement on racial wealth gaps, arguing that justice stems from the literal roots of the earth.

“With heartfelt prose and unyielding honesty, Baker explores the depths of her roots and invites readers to reflect on our own.”—Donovan X. Ramsey, author of the National Book Award for Nonfiction semi-finalist When Crack Was King

To understand the contemporary racial wealth gap, we must first unpack the historic attacks on Indigenous and Black land ownership. From the moment that colonizers set foot on Virginian soil, a centuries-long war was waged, resulting in an existential dilemma: Who owns what on stolen land? Who owns what with stolen labor? To answer these questions, we must confront one of this nation’s first sins: stealing, hoarding, and commodifying the land.

Research suggests that between 1910 and 1997, Black Americans lost about 90% of their farmland. Land theft widened the racial wealth gap, privatized natural resources, and created a permanent barrier to access that should be a birthright for Black and Indigenous communities. Rooted traces the experiences of Brea Baker’s family history of devastating land loss in Kentucky and North Carolina, identifying such violence as the root of persistent inequality in this country. Ultimately, her grandparents’ commitment to Black land ownership resulted in the Bakers Acres—a haven for the family where they are sustained by the land, surrounded by love, and wholly free.

A testament to the Black farmers who dreamed of feeding, housing, and tending to their communities, Rooted bears witness to their commitment to freedom and reciprocal care for the land. By returning equity to a dispossessed people, we can heal both the land and our nation’s soul.

One weekend.

The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city.

A party that goes awry.

A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed.

Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally and suddenly upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, collide into the scene just as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt and glittering underworld, they’re all looking for a way out, fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them.

A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut unlike anything you've seen before.

Ten years ago, Malik's life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost grandmother: a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik’s mother attended.

At Caiman University, Malik’s eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself— one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at Caiman: feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries.

In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what's left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion.

By a prize-winning, young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race.

Even as it shines light on the beauty and toxicity of Black masculinity from a transgender perspective—the tropes, the presumptions—Pretty is as much a powerful and tender love letter as it is a call for change.

“I should be able to define myself, but I am not. Not by any governmental or cultural body,” Brookins writes. “Every day, I negotiate the space between who I am, how I’m perceived, and what I need to unlearn. People have assumed things about me, and I can’t change that. Every day, I am assumed to be a Black American man, though my ID says ‘female,’ and my heart says neither of the sort. What does it mean—to be a girl-turned-man when you’re something else entirely?”

Informed by KB Brookins’s personal experiences growing up in Texas, those of other Black transgender masculine people, Black queer studies, and cultural criticism, Pretty is concerned with the marginalization suffered by a unique American constituency—whose condition is a world apart from that of cisgender, non-Black, and non-masculine people. Here is a memoir (a bildungsroman of sorts) about coming to terms with instantly and always being perceived as “other”

“As you turn the pages of this novel and get lost in Dana’s story, allow yourself to relive the horrors of slavery....Allow yourself to know the pain of our nation’s past.”—Tomi Adeyemi, New York Times bestseller and Hugo and Nebula award-winning author, from the new foreword

This brand new package for young adults includes a redesigned interior for better readability, specially commissioned cover art by Carlos Fama, metallic stock cover, and spot gloss on cover elements

“I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.”

Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realizes the purpose of her summons to the past: protect Rufus to ensure his assault of her Black ancestor so that she may one day be born. As she endures the traumas of slavery and the soul-crushing normalization of savagery, Dana fights to keep her autonomy and return to the present.

Blazing the trail for neo-slavery narratives like Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer, Butler takes one of speculative fiction’s oldest tropes and infuses it with lasting depth and power. Dana not only experiences the cruelties of slavery on her skin but also grimly learns to accept it as a condition of her own existence in the present. “Where stories about American slavery are often gratuitous, reducing its horror to explicit violence and brutality, Kindred is controlled and precise” (New York Times).

“Reading Octavia Butler taught me to dream big, and I think it’s absolutely necessary that everybody have that freedom and that willingness to dream.” 
—N. K. Jemisin

Our history echoes with events which, over time, have become hidden, yet are important to all of us. Juneteenth is a celebration which recognizes the end of the enslavement of Black people in America. This book opens a door to understanding our history and celebrating our future―together.

Meet A Kids Co., a new kind of media company with a collection of beautifully designed books that kickstart challenging, empowering, and important conversations for kids and their grownups. Learn more about us at akidsco.com.

The Afro Unicorns are on parade! Magical, Unique, and Divine celebrate inclusivity and friendship as they bring all the Afro Unicorns together to celebrate the annual Festival of Crowns.

The Festival of Crowns is one of the biggest gatherings of the year in Afronia, and everyone is excited to march in the big parade to celebrate.

But when a last-minute problem puts the parade in jeopardy, the three best friends work together to find a solution.

When Afro Unicorn creator April Showers realized that her favorite emoji—the unicorn!—was only available in white, she was inspired to create a more inclusive brand for children of color to celebrate how magical, unique, and divine they truly are.

Don’t miss the other books in the Afro Unicorn series—
The Most Magical Time of the Year!
Divine Makes a Splash
We Are Afro Unicorns
You Are a Unicorn!
A Magical Day

Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words for children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired picture clues help children decode the story.

"An absolute must-read; tell your friends; buy it for your family; sit with it on your own. This is storytelling we need." —Rebecca Traister

An urgent investigation into the experience of seeking an abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade, and the life-threatening consequences of being denied reproductive freedom.

On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the impact was immediate: by 2024, abortion was virtually unavailable or significantly restricted in 21 states. In Undue Burden, reporter Shefali Luthra traces the unforgettable stories of patients faced with one of the most personal decisions of their lives.

Outside of Houston, there’s a 16-year-old girl who becomes pregnant well before she intends to. A 21-year-old mother barely making ends meet has to travel hundreds of miles in secret for medical treatment in another state. A 42-year-old woman with a life-threatening condition wants nothing more than to safely carry her pregnancy to term, but her home state’s abortion ban fails to provide her with the options she needs to make an informed decision. And a 19-year-old trans man struggles to access care in Florida as abortion bans radiate across the American South.

Before Dobbs, it was a common misconception that abortion restrictions affected only people in certain states but left one's own life untouched. Since the fall of Roe, a domino effect has cascaded across the entire country. As the landscape of abortion rights continues to shift, the experiences of these patients—who crossed state lines to seek life-saving care, who risked everything in pursuit of their own bodily autonomy, and who were unable to plan their reproductive future in the way they deserved—illustrate how fragile the system is, and how devastating the consequences can be.

A revelatory portrait of inequality in America, Undue Burden examines abortion not as a footnote or a political pawn, but as a basic human right, something worthy of our collective attention and with immense power to transform our lives, families, and futures.

A debut picture book about a curious student who finds herself in trouble for talking in class—even though she just wants to share all that she’s learned.

“Did you know that flamingos don’t have teeth?” Questions, facts, and dreams—Ruby René could talk for hours. Once she got going, it was hard for her to stop. It didn’t matter if it was history, science, or the lunch menu—Ruby René had so much to say! But when her teacher called home because she found her sharing distracting, Ruby vowed to keep quiet. Until . . . she finds the perfect outlet for her gift of gab.

With charming text by debut author/educator Ashley Iman and colorful illustrations by Gladys Jose, Ruby René Had So Much to Say is a celebration of owning your voice, honing your skills, and turning challenges into opportunities.

In this inspiring guide to the power of faithful resilience, Tasha Cobbs Leonard—Grammy Award winner and Billboard’s Gospel Artist of the Decade—shares the secret that helps her persevere: When saying yes to God doesn’t make sense, do it anyway.

“Prepare to be invigorated to claim every promise, realize every dream, cast aside every excuse, and embrace every God-given desire within your heart.”—Travis and Jackie Greene, pastors of Forward City Church

Pastor, entrepreneur, and gospel music icon Tasha Cobbs Leonard tells of journeying through moments of unforeseen challenges while holding to an unshakable God and discovering that our greatest breakthroughs come when we make the courageous choice to show up and do hard things anyway. 

Tasha tells remarkable stories of experiencing this firsthand when she committed to dreams even when they seemed unrealistic, pursued adoption though it looked impossible, navigated the dynamics of a blended family despite challenges, and watched God move in each step of endurance through infertility and depression.

With true testimony and conviction, Tasha inspires you toward a bolder way of life with the promise that it will always be worth it on the other side. Along the way, she equips you with practical tools to help you 
• Dream big with God again
• Focus on God’s direction over the loudness of the world 
• Never forget God’s faithfulness, especially in the midst of your hopelessness
• Don’t let fear of failure force you to quit on your miracle too soon
• Believe firmly that no mess and no amount of pain is beyond God’s redemption

Whether you’re feeling stuck, stressed, or simply weary—there’s a more a hopeful way to live, a bolder way to believe. 

To follow God when the way seems impossible, persevere in faith even when the odds are stacked—this is what it means to “do it anyway.”

A comprehensive, entertaining look at heroes, heroines, and critical moments from African American history -- from the slave trade to the Black Lives Matter movement -- by award-winning author Jabari Asim.

Jabari Asim goes beyond what's taught in the classroom to reveal a fact-filled history of African American history through politics, activism, sports, entertainment, music, and much more. You'll follow the road to freedom beginning with the slave trade and the middle passage through the abolitionist movement and the Civil War where many African Americans fought as soldiers. You'll learn how slave songs often contained hidden messages and how a 15-year-old Jamaican-born young man named Clive Campbell helped to create hip-hop in the early 1970's.

You'll experience the passionate speeches, marches, and movements of the Civil Rights era along with and the sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and many others. Along the way there are dozens of profiles of political trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm, the first black women elected to Congress in 1968; dominants athletes like Tiger Woods who, in 1995, was only the second African American to play in a Master's Golf Tournament which he went on to win in 1997; popular musicians like Miles Davis, one the most influential artists of the twentieth century; and inspiring writers like Toni Morrison, the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

Filled with beautiful illustrations by Lynn Gaines that bring these figures and events to life, plus a removable historical timeline poster, A Child's Introduction to African American History is a fascinating and comprehensive guide to this often overlooked yet immensely important part of American history.

Written on the twentieth anniversary of James Baldwin’s death, Letter to Jimmy is African writer Alain Mabanckou’s ode to his literary hero and an effort to place Baldwin’s life in context within the greater African diaspora.

Beginning with a chance encounter with a beggar wandering along a Santa Monica beach—a man whose ragged clothes and unsteady gait remind the author of a character out of one of James Baldwin’s novels— Mabanckou uses his own experiences as an African living in the US as a launching pad to take readers on a fascinating tour of James Baldwin’s life. As Mabanckou reads Baldwin’s work, looks at pictures of him through the years, and explores Baldwin’s checkered publishing history, he is always probing for answers about what it must have been like for the young Baldwin to live abroad as an African-American, to write obliquely about his own homosexuality, and to seek out mentors like Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison only to publicly reject them
later.

As Mabanckou travels to Paris, reads about French history and engages with contemporary readers, his letters to Baldwin grow more intimate and personal. He speaks to Baldwin as a peer—a writer who paved the way for his own work, and Mabanckou seems to believe, someone who might understand his experiences as an African expatriate.

A message in a bottle leads Sophie Washington and friends on a seaside treasure hunt in this exciting, illustrated chapter book adventure.

It's summertime, and Sophie and her best friend, Chloe and her younger brother, Cole, are spending two fun-filled weeks in Corpus Christi, Texas with her young-at-heart grandmother. A surprise discovery on a day out at the beach takes them on a quest for riches. During their search, the kids snorkel, encounter endangered sea turtles, visit a World War II warship and learn that honesty and true friendship are worth more than gold.

Sixth-grader Sophie Washington and friends learn lessons about entrepreneurship, team work, and friendship when they sign up for a city-wide, Lemonade Day event. Sophie wants to buy her mother something special for her birthday, but she's short on cash. Her bestie, Chloe, comes up with the perfect solution. Build their own lemonade stand to raise money at Lemonade Day. The girls add friends Carly and Nathan, and Sophie's little brother, Cole, to their team, and decide to donate some of their earnings to a local animal shelter to help save stray animals. Things are going great, until the family dog destroys their supplies. They get worse when Sophie tries to impress another boy in their class and upsets Nathan. Can they save their business in time for the event?

Learn more about Brujería, the set of practices and rituals found in traditional Latin American mysticism with this mini guide.

Developed over centuries and influenced by Indigenous, Caribbean, African, Latin, and European culture, Brujería has a unique history. This beautifully illustrated introduction will outline the primary methods, practices, rituals, tools, and terms used in Brujería. Learn about limpias, mal de ojo, crystals, cleanses, astrology, and so much more in this enchanting guide.

The abridged paperback edition of Signs & Skymates is your ultimate guide to the astrological pairings of the zodiac—including all twelve signs and a brand-new foreword by the author—from star astrologer and founder of @ScorpioMystique and KnowTheZodiac Dossé-Via Trenou. 

Get to know yourself, your partner(s), and your friendships through the full constellation of your astrological self! In the abridged paperback edition of Signs & Skymates West African astrologer Dossé-Via Trenou explores all of the astrological pairings between the twelve signs of the zodiac—Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. 

Using astrology as a guiding light in her evolutionary approach to compatibility, Dossé-Via invites you to connect to your innermost self, and others, in new and more expansive ways. Comprehensive explorations of relationships between different signs dismantles the ideas of which signs "go together," encouraging readers to expand their ideas about each sign—including the ones in their own chart. Discover the joys, challenges, and opportunities in your relationships as you deepen your knowledge of each sign and the relationships it has with friends, lovers, family, and coworkers.

With Plantas, Alexa Soto elegantly pays homage to Mexico's storied legacy of plant-based cooking while deftly adapting its soulful repertoire to modern times. I may still be a card-carrying carnivore, sure, but I now find myself craving dishes like her mole negro with roasted oyster mushrooms even more than my beloved carne asada. 

 - Jorge Gaviria, James Beard Award-winning author of MASA

A celebration of traditional Mexican recipes with a vibrant vegan twist for a modern audience from Alexa Soto, creator of the @alexafuelednaturally platform

Join Alexa Soto as she highlights the beauty of traditional Mexican cuisine with a plant-based twist for simple, affordable, and healthful vegan meals from breakfast to postre. Paired with Alexa's own gorgeous photography, Plantas is a joyful, welcoming guide to enjoying the traditional food of Mexico in a modern, sustainable way, a celebration of the array of fruits and vegetables that make up the staples of this beloved cuisine. Perfect for full-time vegans and those looking to incorporate more plants into their diet alike, Plantas is full of weeknight meals, snacks, salsas and cocktails that will simplify dinner and inspire your next taco night, including:
 
* Salsas and garnishes like Guacasalsa, Abue's Salsa Habanero Piña, and dairy-free Chipotle Crema
* Taco dishes from Taquitos de Jamaica to Jackfruit Mushroom Carnitas Tacos
* Main courses such as Hearts of Palm Ceviche Tostadas, Tamales de Elote, Cauliflower Al Pastor and Lasagna de Mole
* Dessert showstoppers like Tres Leches Cake, Churros and Chocoflan
* plus cocktails, coffee drinks, and nonalcoholic beverages to round out every meal

Full of traditional flavors, modern spins, stories passed down through Alexas' family and tips for bringing more plants into your life, Plantas is your resource for vibrant, decadent, and healthy meals with beloved Mexican flavors and ingredients that inspire and highlight the natural beauty and bounty of cooking with plants.

In the latest from Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, a group of five teenage boys in Puerto Rico seek vengeance after one of their mothers is murdered; a Latinx STAND BY ME with a haunted, obsidianly dark heart. 

For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her Bimbo swears. And they all agree.

Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits which impose their own order.

Blurring the boundaries between myth, mysticism, and the grim realities of our world, House of Bone and Rain is a harrowing coming of age story; a doomed tale of devotion, the afterlife of violence, and what rolls in on the tide.

Discover the history, practices, and magic of Hoodoo—from veneration of ancestors to worship rituals—in this miniature illustrated guidebook, written by a longtime practitioner.

Hoodoo is a rich cultural and spiritual tradition, created by enslaved Africans and practiced today throughout the United States. This multi-faceted practice draws on elements of African spiritual traditions, Christianity, Spiritualism, indigenous knowledge, and natural healing. This gorgeously illustrated miniature book delves into the practice, history, and profound magic of Hoodoo, and its significance for the Black community within the United States, as well as ways to incorporate this tradition into your own practice.

In the tradition of New York Times bestseller The World Without Us, Princeton and Yale scholar and notable activist Philip V. McHarris imagines what society would look like in a world without police.

It’s evident that policing is a problem. But what is the way best forward? In Beyond Policing, distinguished scholar and writer Philip V. McHarris reimagines the world without police to find answers and ask, How can we make police departments obsolete? Beyond Policing tackles thorny issues with evidence, including data and personal stories, to uncover the weight of policing on people and communities and the patterns that prove police reform only leads to more policing.

McHarris challenges us to envision a future where safety is not synonymous with policing but is built on the foundation of community support and preventive measures. He explores innovative community-based safety models (like community mediators and violence interrupters), the decriminalization of driving offenses, and the creation of nonpolice crisis response teams. McHarris also outlines strategies for responding to conflict and harm in ways that transform the conditions that give rise to the issues. He asks us to imagine a world where people thrive without the shadow of inequality, where our approach to safety is a collective achievement.

McHarris writes, “What if our response to crisis wasn’t about control but about care? How can we create conditions where safety is a shared responsibility? How can we design justice so that no community is routinely oppressed? Envisioning such a world isn’t just a daydream; it’s the first step toward building a society where violence and fear no longer dictate our lives.”

Transformative and forward thinking, Beyond Policing provides a blueprint for a brighter, safer world. McHarris’s vision is clear: we must dare to move beyond policing and foster a society where everyone has the resources to thrive and feel safe.

Paperback Release: January 27, 2026

A radical reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy 

Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.” In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.  
 
The dismissal of “Black violence” as an illegitimate form of resistance is itself a manifestation of white supremacy, a distraction from the insidious, unrelenting violence of structural racism. Force—from work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt—has played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people since the days of the American and Haitian Revolutions. But violence is only one tool among many. Carter Jackson examines other, no less vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle, from the restorative power of finding joy in the face of suffering to the quiet strength of simply walking away. 
 
Clear-eyed, impassioned, and ultimately hopeful, We Refuse offers a fundamental corrective to the historical record, a love letter to Black resilience, and a path toward liberation.

The New York Times bestselling author of Almost There delivers the start of a new rom-com series with an enemies-to-lovers romance, perfect for readers of Abby Jimenez and Jasmine Guillory.

Ashanti Wright is thrilled over the success of her doggie daycare, Barkingham Palace. But handling the business and taking care of her teen twin sisters is a lot. And now that the antics of her adorable French bulldog and poodle bestie are blowing up on social media, things are even more chaotic than usual. And they only get worse when the world’s worst dog hater shows up.

Thad Sims is not a dog person. He’s barely a person’s person. But after his grandmother is transferred to a senior living facility that doesn’t accept pets, the former army officer agrees to care for her annoying standard poodle, and his first move is taking Puddin’ out of daycare.

Now Ashanti’s beloved Duchess is bereft of her companion, social media is outraged, and Ashanti’s business is hanging in the balance. Her only option is to make nice with the surly, sexy Thad at all costs. But it’s gonna take a tiara-wearing Frenchie, a well-dressed poodle, and a whole lotta treats to teach these humans a few new tricks about falling in love.

An ode to the family, friendship, and the beautiful tradition of Hoodoo practice, this book celebrates the magic and symbolism to be found in every day, written by bestselling author Nyasha Williams.

Dayo practices Hoodoo with her family. One Saturday, she wakes from an interesting dream about a yellow bird. What could it mean? She knows that it’s up to her to figure it out. Over the course of the day, as Dayo and her family move through their daily rituals (mantras and affirmations included), the message sent from her Ancestors through her dream reveals itself. This celebration of spirituality (and heritage) highlights the rich history of Hoodoo and the beauty we can find in everyday magic.

From the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a soulful and lyrical novel exploring sisterhood, motherhood, faith, love, and ultimately what gets passed down from one generation to the next
 
At 40, Lena Baker is at a steady and stable moment in life—between wine nights with her two best friends and her wedding just weeks away, she’s happy in love and in friendship until a confession on her wedding day shifts her world.

Unmoored and grieving a major loss, Lena finds herself trying to teach her daughter self-love while struggling to do so herself. Lena questions everything she’s learned about dating, friendship, and motherhood, and through it all, she works tirelessly to bring the oft-forgotten Black history of Oregon to the masses, sidestepping her well-meaning co-workers that don’t understand that their good intentions are often offensive and hurtful.

Through Watson’s poetic voice, skin & bones is a stirring exploration of who society makes space for and is ultimately a story of heartbreak and healing.

In this action-packed thriller from a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author, two parents facing catastrophe must find their lost children before the unthinkable can happen.
 

In London, the police storm Heathrow Airport to bring in a father for questioning about his missing daughter.
 
In Florida, a mother makes a connection between her son and the bomber, fearing he has been radicalized.
 
And in Oregon, an unknown organization’s conspiracy to bring America to its knees unfolds…
 
On the run from the authorities, the two parents are thrown together in a race against time to stop a catastrophe that will derail the country’s future forever.

But can they find their kids before it’s too late?

 
For fans of The Chain and I Am Pilgrim, this ground-breaking, blockbuster thriller is unlike any other thriller you will read this year.

A comprehensive look at the early career of a rising star in contemporary Black portraiture

This is the first monograph on the practice of young American painter Khalif Tahir Thompson (born 1995), who will receive an MFA from the Yale School of Art in the spring of 2024. With several solo exhibitions and artwork in museum permanent collections, Thompson is already prolific. His paintings are populated by Black figures set in colorful, shimmering environments that sometimes resemble patchworks verging on abstraction. They incorporate multiple materials apart from oil and acrylic, including handmade paper, pearls, fabric, velvet, newspaper and leather. Whether isolated or in a group, candid or posed, each figure is imbued with an innate identity. Says Thompson of his work: "I believe painting can be a tool in considering the emotional, psychological complexity of an individual's story and identity ... I alter perception and invoke empathy towards my subjects, depicting their reality across a visceral lens."

Both personal and universal, Harris’ multimedia works weave together legacies of family dynamics, racial discrimination and queer histories

Gathering photographs and installations from both his celebrated and lesser-known series, Our First and Last Love charts new connections across the artistic practice of New York–based artist Lyle Ashton Harris (born 1965). Inspired by his adolescence divided between New York City and Dar es Salaam, Harris explores the complexities of African and African American collective identity while forging his own personal narrative as a queer Black man. The retrospective exhibition chronicles Harris’ approach to representation and self-portraiture while tracing central themes and formal techniques in his work over the last 35 years. Central to this collection are Harris’ most recently completed pieces. Titled Shadow Works, these multimedia assemblages set photographic prints amid Ghanaian funerary textiles, shells, pottery and locks of the artist’s hair. In the exhibition and the corresponding catalog, the pieces function as starting points for thematic groups of Harris’ other works. Juxtaposed with handwritten notes and family photographs, these arrangements underscore Harris’ layered approach to his practice.

The long-awaited monograph on Barkley L. Hendricks’ powerful portraits of contemporary Black subjects

Barkley L. Hendricks is rightly known as one of the foremost American painters of the late 20th century. His six-decade artistic oeuvre encompasses not only portraits but also includes evocative landscapes, hard-edged geometric abstractions, lush watercolors on paper and singular photographs informed by his studies with Walker Evans. This final publication of a five-volume set dedicated to the artist is a 300-page monograph that captures his full evolution as a portraitist.
Solid! is a compilation of Hendricks’ acclaimed figurative paintings: large-scale canvases of distinctively dressed (or undressed) individuals, including several self-portraits, against solid-color backgrounds. Critical essays from curators and fellow artists provide further, often personal, insight into all aspects of Hendricks’ practice: probing his photographic experimentation as a forbear to contemporary street photography; celebrating his sensitivity as a colorist whose unique expertise seamlessly combines oil-based and water-based pigments; and highlighting the observational genuineness in his provocative and personal interpretations of women, of unapologetically visible queer identities and of his own beloved Black communities across the African Diaspora. The book closes with a conversation between Trevor Schoonmaker and Barkley’s widow, Susan Hendricks, in which she recounts their trips to Jamaica and Barkley’s process for creating landscape and fruit paintings outdoors.
Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017) was born in Philadelphia and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Yale. His life-size paintings of everyday Black Americans have inspired generations of artists. Hendricks gave up painting in favor of photography, but returned to oil portraits later in life. He taught at Connecticut College from 1972 until 2010.

Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author with a “lively, engaging, and often wise” (The New York Times Book Review) voice, offers a lyrical, introspective, and unforgettable account of her past and her search for the first family of Black country music.

Country music had brought Randall and her activist mother together and even gave Randall a singular distinction in American music history: she is the first Black woman to cowrite a number one country hit, Trisha Yearwood’s “XXX’s and OOO’s”. Randall found inspiration and comfort in the sounds and history of the first family of Black country music: DeFord Bailey, Lil Hardin, Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Herb Jeffries who, together, made up a community of Black Americans rising through hard times to create simple beauty, true joy, and sometimes profound eccentricity.

What emerges in My Black Country is a celebration of the most American of music genres and the radical joy in realizing the power of Black influence on American culture. As country music goes through a fresh renaissance today, with a new wave of Black artists enjoying success, My Black Country is the perfect gift for longtime country fans and a vibrant introduction to a new generation of listeners who previously were not invited to give the genre a chance.