On the RooftopA stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters' ambitions for their own lives set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco At home they are just sisters, but on stage, they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they've become a bona fide girl

buildsresistance

and expectations

Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick's changing landscape

Afi Tekple is a young seamstress in Ghana

Browne's Black Girl Magic or Jason Reynolds's For Everyone

In her breathtaking second novel

There's the wedding-dressed woman with a little dog peeking out of her handbag

and helpful back matter give readers a clear look at this subject

strongly communicate Blade's frustration and disappointment ("I have taken for granted/ the palm trees of Cali

a Russian billionaire's wife who makes Agnes central to a sex party in Miami--she finds herself searching for fulfillment just as desperately as she was before

there are a few questions she needs answered

income instability