One of Our Kind
A novel
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3.8 • 33 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
An endlessly provocative thriller of race and privilege set in an all-Black gated community from #1 New York Times best-selling author Nicola Yoon
"Brilliant...Your book club will be discussing this one for DAYS.”—Jodi Picoult
When Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, they hope to find a community of like-minded people where their six-year-old son can thrive. Liberty is a place of expensive homes, an all-Black police force, and statues of their heroes: MLK, Malcolm X, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find other liberals and social justice activists, but Liberty residents seem more focused on living the good life and ignoring the world’s troubles. Why won’t any of her neighbors talk about the recent spate of police brutality in Los Angeles? Is it strange that King’s friends have begun to shave off their locs and Afros? And what happened to the family that lived in Jasmyn’s house before her?
Culminating in a shocking twist, One of Our Kind is a razor-sharp satire about resistance, trauma, community, and the Black experience in America.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This masterful psychological horror novel from bestselling YA author Yoon (Everything, Everything) brings to bear all the claustrophobia of Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives against the backdrop of systemic racism and police brutality. When pregnant lawyer Jasmyn Williams, her husband, King, and their son, Kamau, move to Liberty, an upscale, all-Black enclave outside of Los Angeles, Jasmyn is excited to join a community that seems to have it all—safety, stability, and a wellness culture centered on a spa that Liberty's residents organize their lives around. Then Jasmyn realizes how cloistered the community is from ongoing racial injustices, including the recent police shooting of a Black man and his daughter. As she digs deeper into the workings of Liberty's leadership and the nature of the treatments offered at the wellness center, she uncovers a horrifying secret that, once revealed, threatens both her life and her sense of self as a Black woman in America. Yoon maintains taut, nerve-shattering suspense throughout as she delves into societal fault lines and cultural anxieties, crafting a brutally effective examination of how generational trauma roots itself in the body. The dialogue in particular shines as the characters argue, sympathize, and search for connection with one another, even in the face of the terror that surrounds them. Yoon's latest will linger in readers' minds long after its horrifying conclusion.
