As the year comes to a festive end check out our pics for the best books released this year …
Our selection includes releases from Vanessa Walters, George the Poet, legendarylegendary music-industry executive and A&R Marcus Bees and one of Britain’s finest poets Jackie Kay for you to add to your reading list.
The Principle of Moments by Esme Jikiemi-Pearson
6066: In Emperor Thracin’s brave new galaxy, humans are not citizens but indentured labourers, working to repay the debt they unwittingly incurred when they settled on Gahraan – a desert planet already owned by the emperor himself. Asha Akindele knows she’s just another voiceless cog working the assembly lines that fuel his vast imperial war machine. Her only rebellion: studying stolen aeronautics manuals in the dead of night. But then a cloaked stranger arrives to deliver an impossible message, and her life changes in an instant.
1812: Obi Amadi is done with time-travelling. Never mind the fact he doesn’t know how to cure himself of the temporal sickness he caught whilst anchoring his soul to Regency London, the one that unmakes him further with every jump. Or if the prince he loves will ever love him back. Or why his father disappeared. He is done. Until he hears about the ghost of a girl in the British Museum. A girl from another time.
When Obi’s path tangles with Asha’s and a prophecy awakens in the cold darkness of space, they must voyage through the stars, racing against time, tyranny, and the legacy of three heroes from an ancient religion who may be awakening, reincarnated in ways beyond comprehension.
Publish Date: 18th January 2024
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain
by Aniefiok Ekpoudom
A landmark social history of British rap and grime – from the artists and communities who created and were shaped by the music, to the listeners who found a sense of identity and home within it – by one of the nation’s foremost cultural chroniclers.
‘A stunning exploration of a genre, a movement and a world. It’s every bit as lyrical as the rap Ekpoudom has documented.’
Candice Carty Williams, author of Queenie
‘Illuminating and intimate. Ekpoudom’s prose is rhythmic and deft but also crackles with joy. I know I’ll be reading it for years to come.’
Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Small Worlds
Publish Date: 19th January 2024
Publisher: Faber&Faber
The Lagos Wife by Vanessa Walters
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece’s life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.
‘I was hooked right through to the shocking end‘ Bernardine Evaristo
Publish Date: Thursday 29th February 2024 | Publisher: Cornerstone
Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain by Jason Okundaye
Jason Okundaye meets an elder generation of Black gay men and finds a spirited community full of courage, charisma and good humour, hungry to tell its past – of nightlife, resistance, political fights, loss, gossip, sex, romance and vulgarity. Through their conversations he seeks to reconcile the Black and gay narratives of Britain, narratives frequently cleaved as distinct and unrelated.
Tracing these men’s journeys and arrivals to South London through the seventies, eighties and nineties from the present day, Okundaye relays their stories with rare compassion, listening as they share intimate memories and reflect upon their lives. They endured and fought against the peak of the AIDS epidemic, built social groups and threw underground parties; they went to war with institutions (and with each other) and created meaning within a society which was often indifferent to their existence.
“What sung to me beyond the clear vitality within the words was its ability to make the history and lives of our subcultures so tantalising, alive, tender, playful and an addictive read. I can’t wait to tell everyone to read this book.”
Travis Alabanza, author of None of the Above
Publish Date: Tuesday March 5th 2024
Publisher: faberandfaber
These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere
If by some chance you happen on these letters, know that I waited for you. And if you don’t find me, it is not because I stopped waiting…’
While chasing a rogue football, Fatima crosses paths with Bessem and the instant attraction between the two propels them into a life-changing romance. Despite an atmosphere of threat due to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in their home country of Cameroon, Fatima and Bessem persevere in living out their love. All seems to be going well, until one day tragedy strikes, and Fatima disappears…
Thirteen years later, Bessem is now a university professor, keeping her sexuality secret but bonding with her equally-closeted friend Jamal and the queer community around her. But Fatima still haunts her. A chance encounter with people from her past, pushes Bessem to finally go after the truth of her lover’s whereabouts.
Told mostly through unsent letters, These Letters End in Tears, powerfully charts all the different ways that love, despite all odds, can persevere.
“An urgent and devastating story about the cost of living in a place that refuses to recognize your humanity. With vivid and textured prose, Xaviere weaves a tale readers will not soon forget.”
Soon Wiley, author of When We Fell Apart
“Musih Tedji Xaviere’s debut novel These Letters End In Tears is a beautifully tender, heartfelt story about love and the devastating consequences of a world that is not yet all accepting. Her prose is deft and delicate, pulling you quickly in and holding you, as though you were living it.“
JJ Bola, author of The Selfless Act of Breathing
Publication Date: Thursday 28th March 2024
Publisher: Jacaranda Press
Manny And The Baby by Varaidzo
London, 1936. Two sisters are ready to take the city and the world by storm.
Bath, 2012. Two young Black men are figuring out who they are, and who they want to become.
Manny Powell is forthright, intellectual, and determined to make her mark on the London literary scene. Her younger sister, Rita just wants to dance. Chasing their dreams across smoky Soho jazz clubs, they soon find themselves part of the burgeoning Black ambition movement and must learn how to navigate it as women. As tensions rise, and fascism and war snap at their heels, Rita finds herself drawn to the mysterious mimic and trumpeter, Ezekiel Brown, from Jamaica, and the trio are faced with choices that will alter their lives forever.
Itai has fled London to his late father’s flat in Bath. Listening to cassette tapes his father made, he realises there is a lot he doesn’t know about the man’s life — who is Rita? Why did his father record her life story? And might she hold the answers to Itai’s questions? Meanwhile, his developing friendship with Josh, a young athlete who moonlights as a dealer to fund his training, is on unsteady ground. As the country prepares for the 2012 Olympics, Josh is under increasing pressure from his bosses to find out just what the hell Itai is really doing in their city.
‘Manny and the Baby stood out for me from the first few lines. The beautifully balanced prose, the wonderful story, and sumptuous detail are constructed with poetic precision and held my attention right until the very end.’ Jacqueline Crooks, author of Fire Rush
‘An incredibly special writer, thoughtful and energetic, occasionally savage, wise beyond her years, with an eye and an ear for syntax that is masterful … Varaidzo is the future, and Manny and the Baby is a book for the ages.’ Nikesh Shukla
Publish Date: Thursday 11th April 2024
Publisher: Scribe
Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh
When Obiefuna’s father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and the family’s apprentice, newly arrived from the nearby village, he banishes Obiefuna to a Christian boarding school marked by strict hierarchy and routine, devastating violence. Utterly alienated from the people he loves, Obiefuna begins a journey of self-discovery and blossoming desire, while his mother Uzoamaka grapples to hold onto her favourite son, her truest friend.
Interweaving the perspectives of Obiefuna and his mother Uzoamaka, as they reach towards a future that will hold them both, Blessings is an elegant and exquisitely moving story of love and loneliness. Asking how we can live freely when politics reaches into our hearts and lives, as well as deep into our consciousness, it is a stunning, searing debut.
‘Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s writing has a certain delicacy to it, so wonderfully observant, and so beautiful‘ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
‘A moving debut about love and loneliness‘ Sunday Times.
Publish Date: Thursday 22nd February 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Track Record: Me, Music and the War on Blackness by George the Poet
George unveils the power dynamics that shape our world, shedding light on the forces that restrict Black creativity and put limits on Black excellence. By interrogating the history of colonialism and exploring capitalism’s racist legacy, George offers a fresh perspective on the world around us.
Delving into the music scene and iconic films from his childhood, as well as crucial political and economic moments in history, this book provides the backstory of where we are today. Honest, thought-provoking, and passionate, Track Record is a ground-breaking memoir by one of the UK’s most unique voice.
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publish Date: Thursday 25th April 2024
May Day by Jackie Kay
The long-awaited collection from one of Britain’s finest poets, and a chronicle of activism in the UK over six decades.
Kay brings to life a cast of influential figures, delving beneath the surfaces of received narratives: the Jamaican model Fanny Eaton, for example, muse of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England; Paul Robeson, Angela Davis and the poet Audre Lorde; and a ‘what-if’ poem concerning Rabbie Burns and a road-not-taken towards the West Indian slave trade. Woven through the collection is a suite of lyric poems concerning the recent losses of Kay’s parents: poems of grief and profound change that are infused with the light of love and celebration.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publish Date: Thursday 25th April 2024
For Such a Time As This by Shani Akilah
This short story collection centres Black-British Londoners as they explore friendship and romance, community and independence. From Gabby and Daniel, who cross paths at the wedding of a mutual friend and wonder if this could be the start of something, to Niah, who tries to call out her employer for their empty words about diversity and inclusion, each story shows the characters navigating difficult relationships and finding who they truly are.
‘A glittering new voice‘ Bernardine Evaristo
‘Heartachingly beautiful.’ Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, author of Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?
‘Full of heart.’ Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must Go
‘Devoured this in one day…suffused with love and warmth.’ Jendella Benson, author of Hope & Glory
Publication date: Thursday 13th June 2024
Publisher: Magpie Books
Author IG: @_shaniakilah
Rebel With A Cause: Roots, Records and Revolutions by Darcus Beese
The remarkable story of Darcus Beese: legendary music-industry executive and A&R who was raised in a musically fertile and politically febrile times.
His parents – Darcus Howe and Barbara Beese – were prominent activists in west London and members of the Mangrove Nine during a time when racism was rife. This book tells his story and how his unique upbringing along with a love of music and culture helped him progress from “tea-boy” to become “one of the great A&R people of his or any generation*” and how those beliefs instilled in him by his parents have, and continue to be, prominent in his personal and professional life.
Publish Date: Thursday 15th August
Publisher: Nine Eight Books
No Small Thing by Orlaine McDonald
An exceptional Black British debut filled with desire and jeopardy and set on a south London estate
Alone among the lush tangle of plants on his balcony, Earl watches as a broken family reunites in the flat below. There’s Livia, who has been running for long enough to think her past might never catch up with her. Now she’s forced to catch her breath and face the daughter she left behind.
Then Mickey, angry about having a mother who left, a father who died, about the mess she’s made of her own life. With no other place to go, she needs the mother who abandoned her.
And Summer, whose new grandmother is weird, and whose mum is always sad or out looking for men to distract her. Left to roam, she finds friends willing to give her the attention that Mickey won’t. But are they as kind as she thinks they are?
‘A gem of a book about mothers and daughters, about being Black and working class in today’s London. Beautiful writing, taut with emotion, poetry and insight‘ Priscilla Morris, Women’s Prize shortlisted author of Black Butterflies
Publish Date: Thursday 18th July 2024
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
This Motherless Land by Nikki May
When Funke’s mother dies in an accident in Lagos, she’s sent to live with her maternal family in England. Against a backdrop of condescension and mild neglect, sensible Funke strives to fit in, determined to become one of them.
Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family, to be nothing like them. Fiercely protective of Funke, she at last has an ally. The two cousins give each other what they need most: love.
But the past casts long shadows and the choices made by their mothers haunt them, shaping the trajectory of their adult lives.
‘A spirited exploration of culture and kinship‘ Bonnie Garmus
‘Deeply emotional and entertaining‘ Emma Stonex
‘Tugs at the heartstrings‘ Damilare Kuku, author of Nearly all the Men in Lagos Are Mad
Publish Date: Thursday 18th July 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books
Finding Home: A Windrush Memoir by the late Alford Gardner
On 24 May 1948, the Empire Windrush sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, to harbour at Tilbury Docks. It carried 1,027 passengers and some stowaways, and more than two thirds of them were West Indies nationals. On 22 June 1948 they disembarked onto the docks, Alford Dalrymple Gardner was among them. Alford’s story traverses both the uplifting highs and intolerant lows that West Indian migrants of his generation encountered upon travelling to Britain to forge out a life. From joining the British military during World War II to returning to Jamaica once it was won-only to come back to the UK when the government decided it needed him again-Alford witnessed milestone events of the 20th century that shaped the country he still lives in today. In the context of a supposedly ‘post-Imperial’ Britain where the lives of West Indian migrants hang precariously on the whims of the Home Office, Alford’s heartening testimony is a celebration of those who endured hardships so that generations to come could call this place home.
“Alford Gardner’s memoir is a joy to read, capturing the adventure and challenges of this Windrush Pioneer who represents an important link between the first and 4th generation of Windrush descendants. The book should be in the hands of all children as part of the drive for Windrush history and legacy should embedded in the national curriculum“
– Professor Patrick Vernon OBE
“Since 1948 only a handful of autobiographies have been published by passengers who came to Britain on the Empire Windrush and so Alford Dalrymple Gardner’s Finding Home – A Windrush Story is a fantastic resource. I thoroughly enjoyed his stories of serving in the RAF in wartime, his post-war journey to Britain on the Windrush and his long and eventful life in this country. Finding Home is a superb chronicle of Mr Gardner’s journey through life and the ups and downs he has faced. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the Windrush from someone who was there, and has provided us with first-hand experience.“
– Stephen Bourne, author of War to Windrush and Evelyn Dove: Britain’s Black Cabaret Queen
Publication Date: Thursday 3rd October 2024
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
The Rest Of You by Maame Blue
On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients’ trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she too is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark.
When a dangerous encounter with the man she’s dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana.
Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, The Rest of You explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.
‘Maame’s skill at crafting characters that take bits of your heart with them as you read the final pages is a true gift. Following the characters through the intertwining of multiple timelines brought forth the force that yearning and longing actually possess. A wonderful book!‘ — Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here and Strong Like Me
‘Maame Blue places vulnerability and emotional truth at the heart of this novel, interwoven between place, time and character… The Rest is You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation‘ – Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time
‘A story of friendship, loss, trauma and hope, that explores multi-generational pain and the secrets and silences that families can fall into in a bid to move forward. The Rest of You is a quintessential immigrant story with a particular Black British twist‘ – Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of Azúcar
Publication Date: Tuesday 29th October 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins
Manifesto: Unlock The Life You Deserve by Candice Brathwaite
Believing that you deserve abundance is the route to inviting it into your life. But what if your experiences so far have demonstrated the exact opposite? What does Manifesting look like if you’re not white, thin, traditionally pretty, or able-bodied? Candice has learnt to manifest the hard way and can teach you to do the same.
Focusing on the four pillars of Wellness, Wealth, Love and Happiness, Candice’s customary no bullsh*t candour will guide you towards the life you desire and show you that manifesting can be for everyone, not just those to whom the universe has already been kind.
A game-changing approach to manifesting to help you bring your dreams into reality and find contentment in your everyday.
Publication Date: Thursday 5th September 2024
Publisher: Quercus
The Wickidest by Caleb Femi
This is a minute-by-minute depiction of a typical night at a legendary monthly house party known as The Wickedest. Here, we meet a vivid cast of characters, young and old, all surfing a revelry steeped in camaraderie, community, desire and a spirit of jubilant defiance.
A modern epic, The Wickedest explores the institution of shoobs or house parties and their vital role within working-class communities. The poems range from classical English sonnets to experimental forms and are immersively interwoven with photographs, text messages and ephemera. The collection playfully dissembles parties – in space, sound, law and bureaucracy – to document the precarious existence of our nightlife venues.
In Caleb Femi’s inimitable, cinematic style the book builds to a crescendo that is at once euphoric and grief-soaked. The Wickedest calls us to cast our minds to the moments we stood surrounded by our loved ones on a dancefloor, arms outstretched, and freed ourselves from the weight of reality to float.
‘A joyous, lyrical read‘ Yomi Adegoke
‘A near-holy experience’ Jonathan Escoffery
Publication Date: Thursday 12th September 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins
A Woman Like Me: A Memoir by Diane Abbott
In this honest and moving memoir, Diane takes the reader through her incredible journey. She paints a vivid picture of growing up in 1960s North London with her working-class Jamaican parents, before entering the hallowed halls of Cambridge University to study history. Ever since the day she first walked through the House of Commons as the only state-educated Black woman MP, she has been a fearless and vocal champion for the causes that have made Britain what it is today. From increasing access to education for Black children and speaking out against the Iraq war to advocating tirelessly for refugees and immigrants, Diane has long been at the forefront of cultural change in Britain.
Written with her trademark frankness and humour, A Woman Like Me is a candid account that celebrates how one woman succeeded against massive odds to build an extraordinary life.
Publication Date: Thursday 19th September 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books
A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry
Top of the Pops, December 1988. The world sat up as a young woman made her debut: gold bra, gold bomber jacket, and proudly, gloriously, seven months pregnant. This was no ordinary artist. This was Neneh Cherry.
But navigating fame and family wasn’t always simple. In this beautiful and deeply personal memoir, Cherry remembers the collaborations, the highs and lows, the friendships and loves, and the addictions and traumas that have shaped her as a woman and an artist. At the heart of it, always, is family: the extraordinary three generations of artists and musicians that are her inheritance and her legacy.
Musician. Songwriter. Collaborator. Activist. Mother. Daughter. Lover. Friend. Icon. This is her story. The perfect Christmas gift for all music and art lovers.
‘I loved it‘ Zadie Smith
‘Enthralling‘ Bernardine Evaristo
Publication Date: 3rd October 2024
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Bombshell by Alison Hammond
Family has always meant everything to Madison. Married to the nation’s heartthrob, TV handyman Rich, with two beautiful children, she’s always put their needs first. And she’s never regretted a second, even if her own career has taken a backseat. Then, out of the blue, Rich drops a bombshell. He needs some space and he’s moving out.
Overwhelmed by this revelation, Madison turns to her tight-knit group of friends for help. But when their support isn’t enough, Madison resolves to find out what’s really going on. Even if it means turning detective on her own husband.
And with her own interior-design career about to take off (once her manager stops squashing her bold ideas for his terrible ones, and provided she doesn’t get distracted by the new guy in the office), Madison’s about to rediscover her own worth.
She’s a bombshell, after all…
Publication Date: 7th October 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books