Jacaranda Books x The Diverse Book Awards

A Book of Secrets is the story of a woman named Susan Charlewood living in Elizabethan England. Born in what is now Ghana, Susan is enslaved by the Portuguese but later rescued by British sailors, who bring her to England. Once in England, she is raised and educated in an English Catholic household.

When Susan comes of age, the family marry her off to an older Catholic man, John Charlewood. Charlewood runs a printing press and uses it to supply the Papist nobility with illegal Catholic texts and foment rebellion amongst the Catholic underclass. When Charlewood dies, Susan takes over the business and uses her new position to find out more about her origins.

A look at racial relationships on the eve of the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, A Book of Secrets is a revealing and compelling glimpse into a fraught time.

A captivating, sexy romance that explores the limits of love at first sight...

Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Ren is recovering from a romantic betrayal. Kayla is a Black British artist and journalist keen to make her mark. Thrown together during a string of interviews in New York for Ren's latest film, they're struck by an irresistible attraction. The two surrender to one night of searing honesty and passion, which leaves them with more questions than answers about the future. With secrets lurking between them, letting their romance continue could upend the separate lives Ren and Kayla have so carefully built. But can they really risk losing their miraculous connection?

A modern retelling of Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men, this landmark work from DD Armstrong is a poignant look at intimacy, friendship, and masculinity.

Best friends Kyle and Sideeq are beginning their first year of college in West London. Sideeq, a talented aspiring artist, spends his time perfecting his artwork and hanging out with his friends while having to learn how to process the harrowing events of his past. Kyle's ambitions are to become a rapper and a successful businessman. Though the deep bond of friendship formed between Kyle and Sideeq puts them on a path to achieve their dreams, college soon brings with it serious teenage social politics and a bully that terrorizes their friend group.

As they navigate new friendships and love interests, will the two boys continue to fortify each other and help each other succeed? Or will the newfound stressors in their lives pull them apart forever?

"The premise of this novel alone caught my attention, the author behind it even more so. With exceptional skill and sharp insight, DD Armstrong creates the most authentic representation of West London youth culture I've seen yet; his voice is fluid and natural, a joy to read, ranging from the humorous, to the emotionally gut wrenching within a few immersive pages. Here is a writer with infinite promise at his fingertips. Something tells me, with this reworked classic, he's only just getting started." - Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time

An incisive novel laying bare the contradictory societal response to gender, sex and redemption. Rinsing Mũkami's Soul looks at revenge as a powerful tool for reclamation when young Mũkami's carefully ordered life is cruelly thrust into scandal.

Njambi McGrath, award winning author of Through the Leopard's Gaze, delivers this stunning debut novel examining the validity of fury as response when a young Kenyan girl's mistakes in first love are ruthlessly held against her by a paternalistic society.

Mũkami is a young scholarship student at a prestigious boarding school. She has a clear path ahead of her, but a deceptive smile, a school expulsion and an impossible pregnancy see her well ordered life hurtling towards complete and utter disarray.

Facing disappointment from her family and finding that innocence is not a strong enough place from which to mount a defence, she declares revenge. This charged novel asks us to question why girls and women are often left to fight for justice from lonely places in societies that prefer them silenced.

A Dickensian tale of two young boys from opposite sides of the track who form a bond of brotherhood and friendship as they survive the streets of Lagos.

Temilola is a kind-hearted boy from the upper echelons of Nigerian society who wakes up alone in the middle of Lagos and discovers that he has lost his memory. He soon finds that this is the least of his problems, as he must now attempt to survive the dangerous streets of Lagos. Vipaar, who has been making a living as a hawker of random necessities on the streets of Lagos, finds Temilola and, after a violent first encounter, reluctantly takes him under his wing. They form a strong bond as they strive to make a meagre living selling mobile phone chargers to passing motorists on the dangerous highways of Lagos. The boys navigate the ruthless underbelly of Lagos and learn just how far they will go to protect themselves and each other. When tragedy strikes, their bond is broken and they are forced to separate from each other.

Will the two friends find each other again after they both face increasing brutality, pain and sorrow? Or will their destinies have diverged enough to tear them apart forever?

Safe in their love, Tom and Naomi Barnes pursue their dream of family and prosperity as transplants to a London brimming with immigrants and opportunities. Tom works long hours for a super hedge fund and Naomi, while bringing up their boys, is commissioned by fellow prep school mum and immigrant Solange Wolf, to write her memoir. Solange's story of survival and triumph, from the slums in Haiti to becoming an executive with a Fortune 500 company, and inter-racially married to an equally successful man, has a profound effect on Naomi, herself a mixed-race transplant from Colombia married to a white British man full of ambition and potential. Everyone she knows back in Cartagena, including her own mother would kill for a marriage like hers.

As Tom grows in wealth and power, he assumes control over the direction of his family's life, including the direction of Naomi's. She feels herself shrinking into a cardboard cutout of herself, adorned in beautiful clothes, diamond jewelry, and all the trappings of money. She watches Tom create a life that has no need for her as a woman, only as a mother and trophy wife. When Tom tells her, he is voting Brexit to please his boss, Naomi finally decides to take action.

She heads to Solange's house where she finds a heartbroken Solange who declares that her husband has suddenly left her for a younger woman pregnant with his child. Despite the years of hard work, she implores Naomi to burn the manuscript, insisting her entire life has become a lie. With this rash request, Naomi starts to doubt not only Solange's grasp on reality but her own, and although the two women try to heal, their wounds run deep, and London, without the backing of powerful men, is now a strange and alienating backdrop against which they must redefine themselves.

The new satire from the author of Radio Sunrise.

Who will be the next president of the Society of Journalists in Lagos? Who is qualified to lead the esteemed body of journalists and help uphold professional ethics in the state? Will honesty and integrity be able to beat charisma and misinformation?

When a sick man flies in from a neighbouring country, he becomes Nigeria's first ebola case-patient zero. As the cases rise and journalists across the country vie for the lead in reporting the news on the imminent pandemic, Ifiok and his colleagues must immediately tackle the spread of the virus by raising awareness, sharing information, and supporting the outreach efforts of health workers. Unfortunately, they also have to battle against hysteria, misinformation, corruption and denial. Ifiok's love life could be a much needed escape from the stresses of work, if not for his meddling mother and the outdated traditions of society.

Will Ifiok succeed in his quest to become the next president of the Society of Journalists, win the battle against misinformation and find love along the way?

It all starts with a fire. Seven children, asleep in a big house in the Italian countryside. A forgotten candle. Their parents are not there. They are in a different country, a different continent, Africa, where other siblings are growing as part of the same family but in an entirely different life. Without their parents, the children feel dispersed, trying to keep hold of each other.

Now in his forties, Redesof works as an acupuncturist in post-Brexit London. From his balcony in Hackney he talks to his beautiful neighbour Telma telling her his story; of his childhood of migration from Congo to Italy to Britain, hoping to come to some sort of resolution with his past.
A heartfelt tale of displacement, family, and home, Ground delivers a story with international scope that is vital in today's world.