Antonio Michael Downing’s Black Cherokee is a coming-of-age novel about Betty, a Black girl growing up in a South Carolina Cherokee community where belonging is always being measured and questioned. When she meets Queenie, an older woman who refuses to apologize for who she is or where she comes from, Betty is pulled into a world of stories, secrets, and quiet acts of defiance. As she navigates family expectations, community politics, and the pressure to fit into categories that never quite fit, Betty has to decide what kind of “Black Cherokee” she wants to be, and on whose terms. The novel becomes both intimate portrait and sharp look at identity and recognition in the contemporary South.

WHY WE PICKED IT: Because Downing centers a Black girl’s voice in a community where race, Indigeneity, and belonging are constantly negotiated, without flattening any of it into a simple lesson. This is for readers who want character-driven fiction that sits right inside the messiness of identity, community, and who gets counted.

DETAILS: • Author: Antonio Michael Downing
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Publication Date: August 19, 2025
• ISBN: 9781668066102
• Ships direct from distributor in 3–7 business days