T
Tayari Jones
Tayari Jones is the author of the novel Push. Her work often explores themes of race, class, and family.
Kin
Synopsis
Kin follows Vernice and Annie, two childhood friends from Honeysuckle, Louisiana, who grow up to lead very different lives. Vernice attends Spelman College, encountering a world of new opportunities and social complexities. Meanwhile, Annie searches for her absent mother, navigating a path filled with both danger and discovery. This novel explores the enduring ties of friendship, family, and what it means to be a woman in the American South.
Genres
Characters
VerniceProtagonist
Annie (Kin)Protagonist
A motherless girl abandoned as an infant by her mother Hattie Lee; grows up in Honeysuckle, Louisiana as Vernice's inseparable childhood friend and later searches for her mother.
Irene (Kin)Supporting
Vernice's reluctant aunt, who returns from Ohio to raise her niece after Vernice's mother is killed.
Hattie LeeSupporting
Annie's biological mother, who abandoned her as an infant and later refuses to reconcile when Annie finds her in Memphis.
LulabelleSupporting
Runs a Mississippi boarding house for working women and becomes a maternal figure to Annie during her journey.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kin by Tayari Jones part of a series?
No. Kin is a standalone novel — Tayari Jones's fifth.
Was Kin selected for Oprah's Book Club?
Yes. Kin was Oprah's first Book Club pick of 2026, and Tayari Jones's second selection after An American Marriage (2018). It was also a Kirkus Prize finalist for fiction and a New York Times bestseller.