Book Store 18. Beloved by Toni Morrison

🔥 Targeted for its portrayal of slavery’s horror — and still one of the most powerful novels in American history.

Beloved tells the story of Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman haunted by her past — and by the ghost of her lost child. Toni Morrison crafts a lyrical, gut-wrenching tale of memory, motherhood, and Black survival.

Why it was banned: Graphic violence, sexual content, and its unflinching examination of slavery’s trauma.

Recommended for: Mature readers, book clubs, college courses, and Morrison fans ready for her most intense work.