Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Water Dancer | 2019 | Ta-nehisi Coates | Buy |
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s fiction debut, The Water Dancer (2019), tells the story of Hiram Walker, a young enslaved man in Virginia who discovers a mysterious ability connected to water and memory. The novel blends historical fiction about American slavery with magical realism, following Hiram as he becomes involved with the Underground Railroad.
The book was selected for Oprah’s Book Club and praised for its ambitious combination of historical research, literary prose, and fantastical elements. It represents Coates’s first published novel after years of acclaimed non-fiction and comic book writing.