Raise the curtain on the 10 best books of January

Good Dirt, by Charmaine Wilkerson

Charmaine Wilkerson tells the story of Ebby Freeman, her grief-encumbered family, and a treasured clay jar crafted by their enslaved ancestor. Yanked into the spotlight as a child by tragedy, Ebby finds herself again in its glare after a wedding day humiliation. Wilkerson’s winning novel shifts between Ebby’s mental health escape to France and the family’s resilient, 19th-century predecessors. Fortitude and forgiveness abound.

Elita, by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum

In 1950s Seattle, the cocooned life of a scholar and her young daughter slips its moorings following dual storms: the case of a girl plucked from the wilderness, and the return of the scholar’s husband after four years of silence. The author delivers a provocative examination of self-worth.

All the Water in the World, by Eiren Caffall

When furious winds and flooding hit postapocalyptic New York City, Nonie and her family must flee their cobbled-together home atop the natural history museum. Using a canoe from the collection, they escape up the Hudson River. Storms, snags, hunger, and humans – some good, some suspect – stud the path in this fast-paced tale.

The Lotus Shoes, by Jane Yang

In 18th-century China, an embroidery artist is sold into slavery to the distinguished Fong family. Jane Yang’s debut novel focuses on the plight of Chinese women hemmed in by traditions such as bound feet and polygamy. These ancient practices collide with Western values as the women seek independence.

Aflame, by Pico Iyer

Travel writer and spiritual thinker Pico Iyer has spent time at a Benedictine hermitage in California, a seemingly idyllic setting. “Aflame” takes a closer look at his longtime retreat. By reminding us that no place is perfect, Iyer points readers to the restful silence they might find in their own hurried lives.

Black in Blues, by Imani Perry

Imani Perry’s cultural history, subtitled “How a Color Tells the Story of My People,” uses the color blue as a lens into Black life. From indigo dye to Nina Simone’s “Little Girl Blue,” she examines the hue of celebration, mourning, and oppression. 

Islamesque, by Diana Darke

Though many of Europe’s most iconic buildings were made in the architectural style known as Romanesque, their design and construction – executed at the highest level of craft – were derived almost entirely from the Muslim world. In this pioneering work of scholarship, Diana Darke strives to give credit to the Muslim artisans who produced these architectural marvels.

I Am Nobody’s Slave, by Lee Hawkins

Lee Hawkins’ devastating memoir details the harsh realities of growing up in a middle-class Black family with deep, unacknowledged ancestral wounds linked to the family’s enslaved past. Hawkins manages to escape his troubled home life, and comes to realizations about slavery’s ongoing legacy. 

Somewhere Toward Freedom, by Bennett Parten

Bennett Parten offers an original take on U.S. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea, the campaign that weakened the Confederacy in the Civil War. Describing the campaign from the perspective of the thousands of enslaved people who abandoned plantations to follow Sherman’s troops, the historian recasts it as “the largest emancipation event in US history.”

The Containment, by Michelle Adams

Legal scholar Michelle Adams traces school desegregation efforts in her native Detroit and their reverberations throughout the North. She focuses her compelling narrative on the 1974 Supreme Court case Milliken v. Bradley, which ruled that majority-white suburban school districts could not be forced to desegregate