Looking to top up your book collection, or perhaps you’re looking for a gift for a friend? We’ve put together a list of six recent-ish books by authors of colour for you to discover and enjoy.

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

 

Part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project that sees celebrated authors re-write the bard’s most famous plays as novels, New Boy is Othello reimagined as a playground drama in a 1970s suburban Washington school, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practise a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Powerfully told through the perspective of the four 11-year-olds – Osei, Dee, Ian and his reluctant girlfriend Mimi – Tracy Chevalier’s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying and betrayal will leave you reeling.

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 I Almost Forgot About You, by Terry McMillan

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Terry McMillan delivers another entertaining story of female friendship, love and self-discovery in I Almost Forgot About You. Here, our hero is Dr. Georgia Young, a 54-year-old optometrist who is motivated to sell her practice, travel across country and rediscover her dreams—with a chance at love along the way. I Almost Forgot About You shows what can happen when you face your fears, take a chance, and open yourself up to life, love, and the possibility of a new direction.

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Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Brown Girl Dreaming delivers her first adult novel in twenty years. After running into a friend, August begins to recall memories from the 1970s. She is soon transported to a time and a place where friendship was everything—until it wasn’t. For August and her girls, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant—a part of a future that belonged to them. But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared.

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The Writers’ Retreat, by Indu Balachandran

Young Amby Balan has had enough with the 9 to 5 life at Citibank. Throwing caution to the wind, she quits her job and becomes a Tweet writer for Krish Kumaar, the hunky new Kollywood superstar. Despite her new exciting job (and having the opportunity to ogle her gorgeous boss all day long), Amby still longs to fulfil her dream of becoming a writer. She comes across an ad for a writers’ workshop in Greece and cannot pack her bags soon enough. On the way to Santorini, she meets Mini Cherian, a bestselling children’s books author who fantasises about writing erotic novels, and Bobby Verma, who left behind the advertising world to become a travel writer. Together, they embark on an unforgettable adventure to discover their true selves and find love in impossibly romantic Greek islands.

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Here Comes the Sun, by Nicole Dennis-Benn

A superbly realized tale of gender, class, race and sexuality in Jamaica. Here, the lives of poor Jamaicans living in the slums are in stark contrast with the world of the wealthy white men who frequent the island, often for sex tourism. But as one Jamaican woman gets caught up in this lifestyle, things quickly spiral out of control. Nicole Dennis-Benn is a powerful and brave new voice in American literature.

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I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi

Described by Shonda Rhimes as “A truth-riot of a book!” and also on the New York Times Bestseller list, Luvvie Ajayi, who made her name on her hugely successful blog, AwesomelyLuvvie.com, serves us this humorous collection of essays. Ajayi analyses everything from toxic relationships to racism, sexism and other forms of oppression. Giving side-eye from start to finish.

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