Infinite Books

Annie and Vernice (Niecy) call themselves ‘the cradle friends”. Born in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in the midst of racial segregation, Annie was raised by her strict grandmother, while her mother gave her up and left for Memphis. Vernice’s auntie raised Vernice when her mother was killed. Two girls become the closest of friends, but one day Annie runs away with three other young people to Memphis to look for her mother. Later, when Niece turns eighteen, she goes to Spelman College in Atlanta. The novel follows their lives, in chapters written from either Annie or Vernice’s point of view, sometimes in the form of letters they write to each other, but mainly as they narrate their complicated, very different life stories.

Annie is more impulsive, resilient, and very determined to find her mother. Vernice, still struggling with the death of her mother, is drawn to strong, Black, often affluent women in Atlanta. It’s fascinating to follow her transformation from ‘a country mouse’ as she is affectionately called to an elegant, confident, and wise young woman. There are men in both women’s lives, but even when they are essential, they are secondary to the bond Vernice and Annie have. It’s a beautiful novel about kinship, not blood ties, but the sisterhood connections those two young women develop. There is no judgment of what another girl does, no lies and sugarcoating their feelings: trust, understanding, and helping, even if it means jeopardizing their own budding relationships.

“Kin” was an effortless, joyful read for me; by that, I mean I was looking forward to getting back to this novel every evening, like getting back to see old friends. At times, it was simply heartbreaking; at others, it made me smile and even laugh.  This was a book with a soul.

KIN by Tayari Jones, published by Penguin Random House, 2026