Books like 'Let Us Descend'
Readers who enjoyed Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical literary-fiction historical-fiction poc-mc slavery black-mc
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Kromme ploeg by Itamar Vieira Junior
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsKinderlijke nieuwsgierigheid naar een mysterieuze koffer onder het bed van hun grootmoeder komt de zusjes Bibiana en Belonísia duur te staan. Het ongeluk verandert hun leven voorgoed, maar brengt ze ook dichter bij elkaar – zo dicht zelfs dat de een letterlijk de stem wordt van de ander... -
![The Essay by Robin Yocum]()
The Essay by Robin Yocum
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Yocum writes like the reporter he used to be. He’s observant and still has his eye for detail and nuance.”—Richmond Times-DispatchJimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state...Categorized as:
black-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc book coming-of-age fiction historical -
![Shivaji: The Great Maratha by Ranjit Desai]()
Shivaji: The Great Maratha by Ranjit Desai
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShrimanyogi is a biographical work on the life and the achievements of the great Maratha king, Chatrapathi Shivaji. Shivaji has been a legendary figure in the Indian history.Shivaji was one of the major influences on the revival of nationalism and Hindu culture during a period when centuries of rule by Muslim invaders had induced a condition of apathy and indifference in the people... -
![Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė]()
Silva Rerum II by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRomāna darbība notiek no 1707. līdz 1710.gadam. Karš, mēris, bads, nesamērīga greznība un nāvīgs izsalkums, zviedru un krievu karavīri, jūdu ārsti, holandiešu kāršu spēlmaņi, turku konkubīnes, franču dāmas, spītīgi žemaiši un ironiski viļņieši, bezvārda mūks, kurš apglabājis vairāk nekā divdesmit tūkstošus mēra upuru, un, protams, vēl viena bajāru Norvaišu dzimtas paaudze... -
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![Memoirs of a Geisha by Michael Dean, Arthur Golden]()
Memoirs of a Geisha by Michael Dean, Arthur Golden
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsContemporary / American English Memoirs of a Geisha is one of the great stories of our time. We follow Sayuri's life: her early years in a small fishing village and as a geisha in Gion. And throughout her struggle, we know of her secret love for the only man who ever showed her any kindness -- a man who seems to be out of her reach... -
![In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper]()
In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next... -
![Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan]()
Sarah and Solomon: Only A Stone Should Be Alone by Roberta Kagan
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“…Fathers and Give me your children!” – Chaim RumkowskiIt is September 1942, and the already battered occupants of the Lodz Ghetto have just been dealt another horrendous blow from Hitler’s iron fist. They must surrender their sick, elderly, and children for ‘deportation... -
![The Attic Child by Lola Jaye]()
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc slavery black-mc fiction historical mystery -
![Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm]()
Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBestselling Western author Duane Boehm has written another western novel with enough humor, heartbreak, love, and outlaws to keep you turning the page.While the ranchers around Trinidad are circling like buzzards in wait for Flannery Vogel to fail, the downtrodden widow with a young daughter refuses to surrender as she struggles to run the ranch that cost her husband his life... -
![Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.]()
Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the author of Pappy Moses' Peanut Plantation and A Slave's Song - Two slaves, a mother and daughter, separated during the Civil War never to see each other again. From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself... -
![A Royal Visit to Victory Street by Pam Howes]()
A Royal Visit to Victory Street by Pam Howes
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Amazon charts bestseller Pam Howes comes an emotional and uplifting saga about the power of family and a community trying to rebuild their lives after the terrible war that nearly destroyed everything…1956, Liverpool. With the shadow of the war looming over them and bomb craters littering the surrounding streets, hope feels far away for the residents of Victory Street... -
![Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm]()
Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBestselling Western author Duane Boehm has written another western novel with enough humor, heartbreak, love, and outlaws to keep you turning the page.While the ranchers around Trinidad are circling like buzzards in wait for Flannery Vogel to fail, the downtrodden widow with a young daughter refuses to surrender as she struggles to run the ranch that cost her husband his life... -
![Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott]()
Wild, Beautiful, and Free by Sophfronia Scott
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom award-winning author Sophfronia Scott comes the story of one young woman’s bold journey to reclaim her birthright and carve out her own place in a world that tells her she doesn’t belong. Born the daughter of an enslaved woman and a Louisiana plantation owner, Jeannette Bébinn is raised alongside her white half sister―until her father suddenly dies... -
![Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly]()
Erin's Child by Sheelagh Kelly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFamily ties have united the Feeneys through famine and poverty, but can they withstand success? It is 1875 and the Feeneys have left the squalor of York’s slums behind them. Yet all is not well. Patrick remains a man of simple tastes, increasingly out of touch with Thomasin’s ambition to expand her business empire still further across Yorkshire... -
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![The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson]()
The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1848, Ellen Craft became invisible. Ellen, a slave from Macon, Georgia, took trains and steamboats north, but the people all around couldn t see her. They saw only a white man. Ellen Craft s mother was a slave, but her father was her master, and she had skin as white as his. So she posed as a white man, while her husband William posed as her slave... -
![The Color Purple Collection: The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker]()
The Color Purple Collection: The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, and Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThree powerful novels by Alice Walker, beginning with her masterpiece The Color Purple, and following characters as they are drawn into critical confrontations with history The Color Purple is Walker’s stunning, Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of courage in the face of oppression. Celie grows up in rural Georgia, navigating a childhood of ceaseless abuse... -
![The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt]()
The Island We Left Behind by Kate Hewitt
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“I love you. Of course I do. But we haven’t any choice in the matter, do we? If our little boy’s health, even his survival, is at stake, we have to do whatever it takes.”1928, New York City: Ellen and Lucas Lyman have made a heart-wrenching decision to leave their beloved Amherst Island behind in search of a new life... -
![Things Past Telling: A Novel by Sheila Williams]()
Things Past Telling: A Novel by Sheila Williams
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait... -
![God Ain't Through Yet by Mary Monroe]()
God Ain't Through Yet by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEven though her life has its ups and downs, Annette Goode Davis feels lucky. Most of all, she's grateful that her husband, Pee Wee, took her back after he discovered she was having an affair. The trouble is, Annette isn't sure his heart is really in it. Her best friend Rhoda is quick to point out that Annette got herself into this mess, so she has to be patient with Pee Wee... -
![Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.]()
Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFreeman, the new novel by Leonard Pitts, Jr., takes place in the first few months following the Confederate surrender and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Upon learning of Lee's surrender, Sam--a runaway slave who once worked for the Union Army--decides to leave his safe haven in Philadelphia and set out on foot to return to the war-torn South...Categorized as:
black-mc historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc slavery adult american-civil-war audiobook -
![Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins]()
Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA historical holiday story of homecoming and second-chance romance by NAACP Image Award Nominee, Beverly Jenkins. In 1883, Lydia Cooper is happily traveling back home to celebrate the simple joys of the holidays when an unexpected complication appears in the all-too-distracting form of Gray Dane, the man she loved as a girl; the man she left behind... -
![Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.]()
Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the best selling author of BUT HAVE NOT LOVE and BORN A COLORED GIRL comes a love story like no other. She was a young slave girl. He was an African warrior purchased at a slave auction with the intent he would father a new breed of stronger slave. Despite all odds, a language barrier and the disapproval of her family and friends, the two fight for a life together... -
![Princess Ces'alena by Mercedes Keyes]()
Princess Ces'alena by Mercedes Keyes
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBook one revolves around the world of Manny and Lena, as they struggle to live and love in a world where such passion, loyalty and devotion between a master and his slave is forbidden and taboo. Together with every breath they take, they go against convention to keep true what they deeply feel between them. A desire, an obsession so strong, they will pay the price of hell to stay together... -
![Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar]()
Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAtlanta, Georgia, 1950–Michael can’t believe his eyes as he watches the man he loves marry a woman from the back row of Mount Zion Baptist Church. When the beautiful couple is pronounced man and wife, he leaves his home in Georgia for the chance of a better life in New York City.Alexander is just trying to exist in Queens, New York... -
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![The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper]()
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families... -
![Taffy by Suzette D. Harrison]()
Taffy by Suzette D. Harrison
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWelcome to the sleepy, all-Black southern town of Bledsoe, where Colored residents proudly declare “ain’t nothing white here ‘cept milk and teeth.” It’s 1935. A press-and-curl costs a quarter. Records play on phonographs. And a telephone is a luxury. Meet twenty-three-year-old Taffy Bledsoe Freeman... -
![Belle and the Beau by Beverly Jenkins]()
Belle and the Beau by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBelleAfter a grueling escape north, Belle Palmer is free, yet lost and alone. Separated from her father on the harrowing journey, Belle has nowhere to turn until she finds shelter with the Bests, the first free family she's ever known. For the first time in her sixteen years, Belle is able to express herself freely-except where her feelings for a certain dark-eyed young man are concerned... -
![Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson]()
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAward-winning duo Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome combine their talents once more for this sequel to the best-selling "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt." Traveling late one night, a runaway slave girl spies a quilt hanging outside a house. The quilt's center is a striking deep blue -- a sign that the people inside are willing to help her escape...Categorized as:
black-mc historical-fiction poc-mc slavery 21st-century american-civil-war book children -
![Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah]()
Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTrans Atlantic and African slave trades are the subject of Armah's Two Thousand Seasons (1973) in which a pluralized communal voice speaks through the history of Africa, its wet and dry seasons, from a period of one thousand years. Arab and European oppressors are portrayed as "predators," "destroyers," and "zombies"...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc slavery 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![Rhythms by Donna Hill]()
Rhythms by Donna Hill
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt all began in 1927, in the small town of Rudell, Mississippi, after the sudden and tragic death of Cora Harvey's parents. She has nothing left except her burning desire to become a singer. But her dream will never come true in Rudell, especially if she marries the man she adores, Dr. David Mackey... -
![Daughters of the Dust A Novel by Julie Dash]()
Daughters of the Dust A Novel by Julie Dash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsInspired by her Sundance Festival award-winning film "Daughters of the Dust," Julie Dash has put her cinematic vision on the page, penning a rich, magical new novel which extends her story of a family of complex, independent African-American women... -
![A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huf]()
A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huf
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA breathtaking, romantic debut novel by Tammye Huf. Based on the true story of the author’s great-great grand-parents, A More Perfect Union is an epic love story between an Irish immigrant and a black slave, set in the pre-Civil War Southern state of Virginia in 1849 when inter-racial marriage was illegal... -
![Best Kept Secrets by Rochelle Alers]()
Best Kept Secrets by Rochelle Alers
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWith the tumult of the Great War finally at an end, ambitious Samuel Cole returns from Europe determined to forge his own destiny as a wealthy entrepreneur. The lush lands of the Caribbean will provide the means to wealth, but they offer private bounty as well--"a bride. Marguerite-Josefina Diaz is the toast of Havana, the convent-educated daughter of a wealthy cigar manufacturer... -
![Forgotten by Jeanne Hardt]()
Forgotten by Jeanne Hardt
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRumor has it, the war is about to end. But that doesn’t stop Billy Denton from running away to enlist. He’s lived a privileged life on the Wellesley estate, where slavery is seen as a necessary means to operate their textile production. Believing no human should be enslaved by another, he’s willing to fight—and even die—to change the future of the woman who holds his heart... -
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![Mamie Garrison: A Tale of Slavery, Abolition, History & Romance by Teresa McRae]()
Mamie Garrison: A Tale of Slavery, Abolition, History & Romance by Teresa McRae
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMamie Garrison is a story of an ordinary woman who goes to extraordinary lengths to do what she knows is right. Everything in her young life has led her to this moment, this decision. She will embark on the greatest adventure of her life... -
![Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson]()
Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThursday, April 11, 1912 Inspired by true events, Heart of Disaster is the fictionalized story of the Irish steerage passengers who joined RMS Titanic. The legend says "Thursday's child has far to go" but nobody knew just how troublesome this journey would prove. Four single friends, a newly married couple and a stoker who works in the belly of the gigantic ship meet that fateful night... -
![Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens]()
Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGrammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut. I learned your words and wrote my song. I put my story down...Categorized as:
slavery historical-fiction poc-mc black-mc children-books family historical outdoors -
![Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson]()
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLindy and her doll Sally are best friends - wherever Lindy goes, Sally stays right by her side. They eat together, sleep together, and even pick cotton together. So, on the night Lindy and her mama run away in search of freedom, Sally goes too. This young girl's rag doll vividly narrates her enslaved family's courageous escape through the Underground Railroad...Categorized as:
black-mc historical-fiction poc-mc slavery action-adventure book children children-books -
![The Fancy by Mercedes Keyes]()
The Fancy by Mercedes Keyes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe slave trader, "fancy" dealer was saving the best for last, for a special auction. However, at hearing how close he'd come to losing his mother - his priorities, his plan shifted. Dr. Quinton Thaddeus Caine had saved his mother's life - for this deed, the young surgeon deserved the best that he could give in compensation. A gift - the best - a Fancy... -
![Drinking from a Bitter Cup by Angela Jackson-Brown]()
Drinking from a Bitter Cup by Angela Jackson-Brown
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“1978. The year I turned ten and the year my mama killed herself. She was thirty-five, and dying is the last thing that should have been on her mind.” After the death of her mother, Sylvia Butler’s father, a man she knows only from an old photo, takes her from Louisville, Kentucky to Ozark, Alabama to live with his family... -
![Evermore: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig]()
Evermore: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNicolette Chamard, a woman of color in the most color-conscious city in the world, rejoices when the Union Army marches into New Orleans. At last her people will be free, and even knowing her collaboration with the Union will put her in danger, she means to help make it happen. Marcel Chamard, Nicolette’s privileged white half-brother, surveys the same parade and sees conquerors, not liberators... -
![An Instant in the Wind by André P. Brink]()
An Instant in the Wind by André P. Brink
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe year is 1749, when the Boers ruled South Africa. And so it has come to his Baas's final command to his Hottentot slave Adam, to flog his mother, because she refuses to prune the master's vineyard in order to attend her own beloved mother's funeral. And when he refuses to do so, and his Baas smashes his face with a piece of wood, Adam turns on him, and beats him almost to death...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc slavery 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![When the Yellow Mocker Calls by Lila M Beckham]()
When the Yellow Mocker Calls by Lila M Beckham
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the South Carolina Hills, along the Savannah River Watershed, in the fall of 1829, 14-year-old, three-quarter Cherokee, Sahani, whose Christian name is Charity, sets out on a journey with her 83-year-old maternal, white grandfather to Fort Charlotte, for what she thinks is a trip to trade the pelts he has accumulated in order to replenish their supplies... -
![Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu, Marian Ochoa de Eribe]()
Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu, Marian Ochoa de Eribe
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsUn ejercicio de pura libertad literaria, una obra torrencial, libérrima, exuberante, inclasificable. Una novela épica que va desde lo realista hasta lo fantasmagórico.Tudor es el hijo menor de dos sirvientes de la corte de un gran boyardo de la atrasada Valaquia... -
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![Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson]()
Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“No one except perhaps Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams has aimed so high and achieved so much in the American theater.”—John Lahr, The New Yorker“A swelling battle hymn of transporting beauty. Theatergoers who have followed August Wilson’s career will find in Gem a touchstone for everything else he has written.”—Ben Brantley, The New York Times“Wilson’s juiciest material... -
![An Apartment Called Freedom by Ghazi A. Algosaibi]()
An Apartment Called Freedom by Ghazi A. Algosaibi
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFirst published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company... -
![A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake]()
A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTold in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness... -
![The Short Stories by Langston Hughes]()
The Short Stories by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis collection of forty-seven stories written between 1919 and 1963--the most comprehensive available--showcases Langston Hughes's literary blossoming and the development of his personal and artistic concerns. Many of the stories assembled here have long been out of print, and others never before collected...Categorized as:
literary-fiction black-mc poc-mc fiction classics anthologies 20th-century historical -
![Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson]()
Where The Winds Dwell by Böðvar Guðmundsson, Bovar Gumundsson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWritten as a letter from a father to a daughter, Where the Winds Dwell is compassionate and real. Guðmundsson brings together past and present in this tragic story of the historic journey to Nýja Ísland, the world's largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland... -
![Honor by Lyn Cote]()
Honor by Lyn Cote
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen unexpected circumstances leave Honor Penworthy destitute after the death of her grandfather, she is forced to leave her Maryland plantation--and the slaves she hoped to free--and seek refuge with a distant relative. With no marketable skills, her survival hinges on a marriage arranged through the Quaker community to local glass artisan Samuel Cathwell...
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