A president has been overthrown by a military coup in a nameless country in an unspecified era. The president’s barber, chef, and portraitist are imprisoned, with many others, in a remote palace in the hills high above the city center. Before the coup, these three men worked with unquestioning loyalty, serving the president in seemingly benign jobs. Now, forced to serve the country’s new leader, they begin to reconsider their role in the old regime.

In simple, elegant prose Blood Kin alternates between the voices of the barber, the chef, and the portraitist. Later in the book their wives, lovers, and daughters tell their own tales. As the old order falls, so does the veil that hides the truth about these men and women’s secret passions. No one, it seems, is entirely immune to the many temptations of power.

Ceridwen Dovey’s debut is a welcome addition to the important tradition of allegorical writing about political upheaval and personal guilt. Her clever, magnetic story will resonate with fans of J. M. Coetzee, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Gabriel García Márquez.

"A fable of the arrogance of power, beneath whose dreamlike surface swirl currents of complex sensuality."
—JM Coetzee, Nobel prize-winning author of Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians

"This is an unflinching and poignant work that exposes man's limitations and vulnerabilities in the face of absolute power. It has about it something of the splendor and inevitability of a myth. Like all wonderful books, it has always been there, waiting for its author to arrive. And, thankfully for us, she has come."
—Hisham Matar, author of In the Country of Men (shortlisted for 2006 Man Booker)

"A lovely, haunting novel, written with great care and precision. Working on the level of allegory, with a careful consideration of history and myth, Ceridwen Dovey has fashioned a really fine debut."
—Colum McCann, author of international bestsellers This Side of Brightness and Dancer

Ceridwen Dovey grew up in South Africa and Australia. A graduate of Harvard University, she is now a doctoral student in anthropology at New York University. Her stories “Vasbyt” and “Coma Karma” were selected for the anthology African Road: New Writing from Southern Africa, judged by J. M. Coetzee.

Imprint: Viking Adult
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 02-28-2008
Pages: 192
Measurements: 8.52in X 5.74in X 0.87in X 0.70lb