Kinfolk: A Novel

by Sean Dietrich

Sometimes it’s the most unlikely meetings that give us life’s greatest gifts.

1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he loves tell him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small-town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.

Nub never meant to change his ways, but when he and fifteen-year-old Waffle House waitress Minnie form an unlikely friendship, he realizes for the first time that there may be some good in him after all. Six-foot-five Minnie has been dealt a full deck of bad luck—her father is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, her mother is dead and buried, and she has a Grand Ole Opry–worthy singing voice with no place to perform. Oh, and there’s the small fact that she’s unexpectedly pregnant, courtesy of a no-good high-school boy.

Gradually, Nub realizes the gift he’s been given: a second chance to make a difference.

Beloved Southern writer Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, once again brings people and places to life in this lyrical song-turned-story about found family, second chances, country music, and the poignant power of love and forgiveness.

• Heartwarming Southern fiction from Sean of the South
• Stand-alone novel
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs
• Also by Sean Dietrich: The Incredible Winston Browne, Stars of Alabama, and You Are My Sunshine

• ISBN10: 1400235634
• ISBN13: 9781400235636
• Publish Date: 1 February 2024 (first published 14 November 2023)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Focus
• Imprint: Harper Muse
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

A Rare View Of The South As It Really Is. As a native Son of the South - and in particular of a region *so* steeped in most *all* of its history, from prehistoric Native American burial mounds to the first female (and last slave owning) US Senator - it is rare for me to find a book that portrays Southern life *well*, both in its strengths and its weaknesses. This book does exactly that. It doesn't shy away from our ne'erdowells, it doesn't make excuses for assholes. But it shows that most everyone is somebody to someone, even if it takes them a lifetime to figure that out. There's a lot here that may make some uneasy, including a violent on screen suicide to open the book, a detailed discussion of breast cancer in an era before that particular affliction was as well known as it is now, a mother's untimely death, and I'm sure even more depending on the reader's own sensibilities - those are just the biggest ones. But even there, Dietrich uses those things in furtherance of the story he is telling, and he does in fact wind up using every single one quite well to paint a particularly vibrant tapestry of words. There are many stories to tell of Southern life, but if one is looking to read a zany at times tale that will pull the heartstrings quite a bit - and yes, even make the room quite dusty a time or two - this is absolutely one of those types of tales. What Jimmy Buffett's fiction did for the Caribbean, Sean of the South's is doing for the American South in general. Very much recommended.