A book club must-read for 2026: Tayari Jones’ ‘Kin’

Every new year brings a flood of predictions about which books will dominate the conversation, and it can be exhausting trying to keep up. But the moment I heard that Tayari Jones had a new novel, Kin, coming out this month, I knew this book would land on many of those most-anticipated lists.

 I was so lucky to get an early copy to read. One of the author’s most acclaimed previous novels, “An American Marriage,” published in 2018, remains one of my favorite reading experiences. It is a devastating, powerful novel of a young marriage undone by injustice when the husband is sentenced to 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. I highly recommend checking out that book if you haven’t already.

KIN by Tayari Jones.

The premise: “Kin” follows Annie and Vernice, two motherless girls raised next door to each other in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in the 1950s and ’60s. Annie is brought up by her grandmother after her mother abandons her as an infant; Vernice is raised, reluctantly, by her aunt after her mother is killed by her own father.

The two girls grow up inseparable until adulthood pulls them in opposite directions. At 18, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle for Spelman College in Atlanta, entering a world of privilege, ambition, and powerful Black womanhood. Annie, meanwhile, runs away to Memphis in search of the mother who left her behind, embarking on a hard and uncertain journey. Though their paths go in opposite directions, the two childhood friends stay connected and a part of each other’s lives. Both women struggle to find their way in the world without a mother’s guidance, though they are helped along by women who step in with care, discipline, and grace.

The verdict: Tayari Jones delivers another quietly devastating novel, one that poses important questions without ever losing momentum. What does it mean to be family? How does abandonment shape who we become? Can love, especially maternal love, be replaced, reimagined, or reclaimed?

Told in alternating voices, the novel is both ambitious and deeply accessible, an emotional exploration of friendship, sisterhood, and the complexities of womanhood in the American South. Kin is already a top 10 book for me in 2026, and one I expect will appear on countless book club must-read lists. Its release date is Tue., Feb. 24.

Fun fact: all of the author’s novels, including “Kin,” “Leaving Atlanta,” “The Untelling,” “Silver Sparrow,” and “An American Marriage,” are set in or inspired by Atlanta, where the author grew up. I also listened to a recent interview Jones gave about “Kin” and wanted to share one quote that stayed with me: “We have to keep writing these books faster than they can ban them.”