Men We Reaped is a poignant memoir by the talented Jesmyn Ward, who recounts the heartbreaking loss of five men in her life over five years. These men were lost to drugs, accidents, and suicide, and their deaths are painted against the backdrop of the harsh realities of poverty and systemic racism in rural Mississippi.

Ward bravely explores the pressures faced by black men, the women who support them, and the communities that struggle with the absence of these men. Her narrative is both an intimate reflection and a powerful commentary on the social and economic struggles that foster drug addiction and the breakdown of family relationships.

As the only member of her family to pursue higher education, Ward writes with the objectivity that distance provides and the intimacy of someone deeply familiar with the struggles of her community. Men We Reaped is a compelling read that resonates with the themes of grief, resilience, and hope.

Passing is a brilliantly plotted and elegantly written novel by Nella Larsen, first published to critical acclaim in 1929. It tells the electrifying story of two women who cross the color line in 1920s New York.

Irene Redfield, the novel's protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem townhouse with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem's elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch.

Clare—light-skinned, beautiful, and charming—tells Irene how, after her father's death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene's life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare's dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception.

This novel offers a gripping psychological portrait of emotional extremity and remains a powerful commentary on race, identity, and societal norms.

Capturing all the rueful irony and racial ambivalence of small-town Mississippi in the late 1950s, Melinda Haynes' celebrated novel is a wholly unforgettable exploration of family, identity, and redemption.

Mother of Pearl revolves around twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, the fifteen-year-old white daughter of the town whore and an unknown father. Both are passionately determined to discover the precious things neither experienced as children: human connection, enduring commitment, and, above all, unconditional love.

A startlingly accomplished mixture of beauty, mystery, and tragedy, Mother of Pearl marks the debut of an extraordinary literary talent.