Kin

Jones (An American Marriage) delivers a triumphant novel of two motherless girls from rural Honeysuckle, La., who follow very different paths into adulthood. Vernice "Niecy" Davis is orphaned as an infant and raised reluctantly by her free-spirited aunt Irene, who dispenses such advice as "If you ever get a chance in life, grab you a preacher, but just temporarily. Don't fool around and end up being somebody's first lady." Before Niecy learns to talk, she befriends Annie Johnson, who's being raised by her grandmother after her "trifling" mother, Hattie Lee, left her at one month old. In Annie and Niecy's alternating narration, the women reflect on their abandonment--Niecy's in a permanent sense, as her father killed her mother and himself, while Annie always hopes that someday Hattie Lee will return and grow to love her. After high school, Niecy leaves for Spelman College in Atlanta, where her wealthy roommate, Joette, nicknames her "country mouse" and chastises her for spending so much time thinking about her "other girlfriend," Annie, who's been writing to Niecy about her torrid misadventures on the way to Memphis in search of Hattie Lee with her ex-boyfriend's cousin Bobo. Annie's and Niecy's paths continue to diverge, first when Niecy entertains a suitor at Spelman and later when Annie gets unexpectedly pregnant. Still, they remain the most important person to the other even as it feels like they're on "different sides of a waterfall," as Annie puts it in a letter. Throughout, Jones tells her protagonists' stories with grace, humor, and pathos. It's a tour de force. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)

The story of a lifelong friendship born in hardship and tempered by adversity. Growing up in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in the 1950s, Vernice and Annie are best friends who share an unhappy bond: Both have lost their mothers. When Niecy was 6 months old, her father murdered hers. Annie's abandoned her when she was still "womb-wet." As girls, they're inseparable, but their paths diverge in young adulthood. Cautious, sensible Niecy goes to Spelman College, where she finds a community of strong Black women, then marries into a wealthy family. Desperate to find her mother, Annie runs away from home and embarks on a journey that will take her to some of the less savory corners of the Jim Crow South. Even though they're separated by distance and circumstance, their closeness endures--as does the trauma of mother loss. Niecy and Annie are both rich, captivating characters and the ways in which their lives complement each other is emotionally satisfying--for them as well as the reader. As Annie puts it, "Nobody would for one second think to call me shy if I stood next to Niecy--who has been a young lady since the day she was born. And with me around, nobody would ever call Niecy poor or homely. In that way, we kept each other from being the thing we most didn't want to be." This is Jones' first new novel sinceAn American Marriage (2018), and it's reminiscent of that critically acclaimed and bestselling work. As in her last book, the author 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. For instance, this is how Niecy recollects an encounter with a kind woman: "'Oh Cher.' The sympathy in her voice was thick and sticky like Pet Milk. I opened my lips like a baby bird, starving in a forsaken nest." Beautifully written and powerfully compelling. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.