"Black history is a series of missing chapters," writes historian David Olusoga. There are many stories that remain untold.

But it is not just history. English literature, says novelist Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA Nigerian author known for her novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. , makes Black readers feel "silenced and invisible". When she was a child, Black people in novels were never the main character.

However, since then, best-selling Black authors have changed the world of books. Here are six of the best:

1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. A warm and funny novel about different ways to be a Black woman. "A master class in storytelling," says the American writer Roxane Gay.

2. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. We need more "black girl fantasy", says Adeyemi. Nigerian mythology and the Black Lives MatterA political movement which aims to challenge police brutality and racism towards black people all across the world, usually using protests and other means of activism. movement inspired this epic tale, often compared to The Lord of the Rings.

3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. One sister sold into slavery, the other married to a slave trader. Gyasi follows their story across three continents and seven generations, from a village in Africa to New York. "History," Gyasi writes, "is Storytelling".

4. Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. In 1989, Salaam went to prison for a crime he did not commit. In this brilliant book, he works with poet Ibi Zoboi to turn his personal history into fiction. It explores racial injustice.

5. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. In the 1800s, thousands of people fled slavery in the American South.¹ The escape route was called the underground railroad. In this fantastical novel, a young girl called Cora makes this terrifying journey north.

6. Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah. This beautiful book follows the life of a Jamaican boy making a new home in England.

Yes: The African American novelist James Baldwin said history is more than just something in textbooks. It is alive in everyone. To understand it, you must listen to people's stories.

No: During Black History Month, we should read non-fiction. History is fact. Novels are made up. If we want to learn from the past, we must understand the difference between stories and history.

Or... History is the study of things people have written. We must treat novels like all historical documents: who wrote them and why? Can their version of events be trusted?