Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls | 2019 | Anissa Gray | Buy |
| 2 | Life and Other Love Songs | 2023 | Anissa Gray | Buy |
Anissa Gray writes literary fiction about Black American families in crisis. Both of her novels use multiple narrators to explore how secrets and trauma ripple through the people closest to us.
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls (2019) follows the Butler sisters after the eldest is arrested for stealing from a charity she helped create. Her siblings must return home to care for her teenage daughters while confronting their own buried pain. The novel examines hunger in all its forms — literal, emotional, and familial.
Life and Other Love Songs (2023) spans three decades in the life of the Armstead family, unraveling the mystery of a father who vanished and the traumatic history he carried from rural Alabama to suburban Detroit. The story moves between husband, wife, and daughter as each tries to make sense of a family shaped by displacement and unspoken grief.