A Kirkus Editor's Pick

Praise for Kin:

“Kin is a lush, beautiful novel about the family we make. . . . Jones maintains a light touch and a gift for effortless portraiture. . . . When reading Kin, I wanted nothing more than to keep reading it. That’s the circle Jones creates, the one that connects her voice, her characters and her readers.”
—Radhika Jones, The New York Times Book Review

“Propulsive and compelling.”
—The Boston Globe

“Jones’s dazzling novel traces the complex range of the Black experience—rich and poor, queer and straight, blessed and cursed—in the Jim Crow South.”
—People

“One of the many pleasures of Kin is how deftly Jones builds the story within the context of the Jim Crow South in mid-twentieth century America. . . . Another novelist might have made these broad social concerns the focus of the story, but Jones foregrounds her characters and lets them navigate these national tensions as naturally and confidently as they move through the streets of Atlanta and Memphis.”
—Ron Charles

“Kin is the kind of all-encompassing reading experience I’m always hoping to find: smart and funny and deftly profound. This is Tayari Jones’s very best work.”
—Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake

“A triumphant return of one of the most important literary voices today. Vibrant, funny, moving and powerful, Kin is an unforgettable read.”
—Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of The Mountains Sing

“A riveting and deeply moving portrait of indelible female friendship, found family and finding your way. . . . This gorgeous novel already feels like a future classic.”
—Roisin O’Donnell, author of Nesting

“Beautifully written and powerfully compelling. . . . Tayari Jones interrogates social injustice through the lens of personal relationships while exploring the ways in which it shapes those relationships, and she does this in language that is intimate, conversational, and musical all at once.”
—Kirkus (starred review)

“Jones delivers a triumphant novel of two motherless girls from rural Honeysuckle, Louisiana, who follow very different paths into adulthood. . . . Throughout, Jones tells her protagonists’ stories with grace, humor, and pathos. Kin is a tour de force.” ­
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Jones deftly coneys the nuances of Southern Black culture in this novel full of depth, pain, and beauty. . . . A tender love song to southern Black families, communities, and female friendships.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Tayari Jones once again stuns with a novel full of uninhibited love. . . . Jones develops her protagonists’ personalities slowly and with nuance, subtly evolving them into characters one just can’t help but root for.”
—BookPage (starred review)

“Ambitious and accessible, emotionally challenging without pushing readers away. . . . Kin shows off Jones’s considerable skill through strong pacing and a plot that is emotionally taut without feeling unnecessarily dramatic. Without fail, Jones delivers a brilliant turn of phrase, at turns witty and insightful.”
—Shelf Awareness

“A powerful new novel. . . . Don’t forget to breathe while you’re reading this heartbreaking masterpiece.”
—Chatelaine

“Kin is a love story—but it is far from a typical one. Moving, tender and beautifully told. . . . Jones’ characterizations, prose and plotting throughout are impeccable, and the result is a stunning work of fiction—a vivid and vital novel about overt racism, subtle classism, activism, ambition, motherhood, love, loss and, of course, friendship. In spite of the sadness at its core, Kin is a joy to read.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Jones’s idiomatic, hypnotic prose pulls you in, and she playfully threads tropes of twinning, doubling and foiling throughout the novel, which alleviates the melancholy and makes the plot twists shine. . . . ‘Grief is a kind of spell,’ and with Kin, Jones casts one on her readers, leaving us certain something has—quietly, almost unknowingly—stirred within our souls.”
—The Guardian