Black Women Connect Book Club is excited to announce our book club selections from March to June 2023. Our book club is an online community where Black women come together to read and discuss books written by Black authors.
In March, we will be reading Black Cake: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson. This is a debut novel that tells the story of a family whose relationships and history are shaped by the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names. It is a deeply evocative and beautifully written journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.
For April, we will be reading Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is “Yinka, where is your huzband?”.
Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Still, when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Find-A-Date for Rachel’s Wedding. Aided by a spreadsheet and her best friend, Yinka is determined to succeed. Will Yinka find herself a huzband? And what if the thing she really needs to find is herself? Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? brilliantly subverts the traditional romantic comedy with an unconventional heroine who bravely asks the questions we all have about love. Wry, acerbic, moving, this is a love story that makes you smile but also makes you think–and explores what it means to find your way between two cultures, both of which are yours.
Yinka’s Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom, her work friends think she’s too traditional (she’s saving herself for marriage!), her girlfriends think she needs to get over her ex already, and the men in her life…well, that’s a whole other story. But Yinka herself has always believed that true love will find her when the time is right. Still, when her cousin gets engaged, Yinka commences Operation Find-A-Date for Rachel’s Wedding. Aided by a spreadsheet and her best friend, Yinka is determined to succeed. Will Yinka find herself a huzband? And what if the thing she really needs to find is herself? Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? brilliantly subverts the traditional romantic comedy with an unconventional heroine who bravely asks the questions we all have about love. Wry, acerbic, moving, this is a love story that makes you smile but also makes you think–and explores what it means to find your way between two cultures, both of which are yours.
In May, we will be reading Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett. This is a captivating thriller that tells the story of Desiree Pierce, a disgraced reality TV star whose death is declared an overdose by the police and the media. However, her half-sister Lena Scott knows that this cannot be the case and goes on a dangerous search for the truth. This book is full of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
In June, we will be reading Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn. This novel captures the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect and offers a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. The story follows Margot, who hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school and is determined to shield her from the same fate of trading her sexuality for survival. As they face the impending destruction of their community, each woman must confront long-hidden scars and fight to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves.
We are excited to read and discuss these books with our community of Black women. If you would like to join our book club, visit www.blackwomenconnect.ca to learn more and become a member. We look forward to connecting with you!
July to November books will be posted in late spring!
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.