Blood Kin
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize
A chef, a portraitist and a barber are taken hostage in a coup to overthrow their boss, the President. They are held captive in the President's summer residence in the mountains while far below them, the capital swelters as chaos reigns.
Meanwhile, the chef's daughter, the portraitist's pregnant wife and the barber's lover await their own fates, their love as dangerous a liability as any political affiliation.
In her stunning debut novel, award-winning author Ceridwen Dovey reveals how humanity's most atavistic impulses – vanity, vengeance and greed – seethe, relentlessly, just beneath the surface of civilization.
'A story about how the lightest taste of power so easily stimulates our limitless appetite for sadism. Dovey . . . presents her case so meticulously and relentlessly that you've got to respect her authority. New York Times Sunday Book Review
'A lovely, haunting novel, written with great care and precision . . . a really fine debut.' Colum McCann, author of Let The Great World Spin
'A meticulously constructed story about political corruption and its impact on people's lives . . . ingenious.' Sydney Morning Herald
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anthropology doctoral student Dovey's smart debut novel traces events in the lives of three functionaries in the entourage of the president of an unnamed country who is overthrown by the "Commander." Dovey divides the book into three sections. The first section is devoted to the three men: the president's chef, barber and portraitist. The second section is told by three women: the chef's daughter, the barber's late brother's fianc e and the portraitist's wife. The third section operates as a coda, bringing about a second coup. The Commander imprisons the three men in the presidential residence, thinking, at first, of punishing them as subordinates to the old regime. (The portraitist's wife is also imprisoned, for reasons that are obvious to everyone but the cuckolded portraitist.) However, as the Commander samples the chef's food and the barber's skills, he softens his stance toward them. As for the portraitist, he proves too pathetic to punish. Meanwhile, the barber and the Commander's wife commence a dangerous affair, and the chef tries to figure out how to use it to his advantage. Dovey's prose gives the events an air of magic and allows this small, fable-like story to plainly illustrate the old axiom about power's ability to corrupt.
