Publisher Annotation: A groundbreaking debut collection portraying the lived experiences of Black Muslims grappling with faith, family, and freedom in America.

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family's origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers...

"The Mothers meets An American Marriage in this dazzling debut novel about mothers and daughters, identity and family, and how the relationships that sustain you can also be the ones that consume you. The Butler family has had their share of trials. As sisters, Althea, Viola, and Lillian can attest. But nothing prepared them for the literal trial that will upend their lives. Althea, the eldest sister and substitute matriarch, is a force to be reckoned...

Otto and Sheed, The Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County, are ordered by Missus Nedraw to bring a fugitive to justice in a world that mirrors their own but has its own rules.

Seventh-grader Tristan must return to Alke and enlist the help of African gods and black folktale heroes when Nana is abducted from the Strong family farm in Alabama.

"When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle. And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former pro athlete wants back into the game, and he wants Taylor to train him. There's just one catch -- no one can know what they're doing. But...

Tommy is reluctant to dress up and go out on Halloween until his mother convinces him that there are no real monsters, ghosts, or witches.

It is a time of calamity in a major metropolitan city's Department of Elevator Inspectors, and Lila Mae Watson, the first black female elevator inspector in the history of the department, is at the center of it. There are two warring factions within the department: the Empiricists, who work by the book and dutifully check for striations on the winch cable and such; and the Intuitionists, who are simply able to enter the elevator cab in question, meditate,...

Twelve-year-old Toswiah finds her life changed when her family enters the witness protection program.

"This third novel by Rosalyn Story, whose critically acclaimed books treat the central role of Black people in American music, is her most rewarding yet, telling the intertwined stories of two singers whose lives connect across time."--