Rilla Askew (The Mercy Seat) steps out of her usual historical fiction with Kind of Kin, a novel that touches on both the timeless theme of family bonds and the timely theme of illegal immigration.
Bob Brown's arrest shocks the citizens of tiny Cedar, Okla. In an exercise in radical Christian discipleship, Bob sheltered a handful of frightened illegal Mexican immigrants in his barn, only to find himself betrayed to the law by someone close to him. In his absence, his daughter, Sweet, takes over the care of her orphaned nephew, Dustin--one more worry for a woman already dealing with a tight household budget, her husband's constant trips for his job and a son even she admits is turning into a bully. When Dustin runs away, Sweet finds herself in the middle of a media circus, just as Dustin's older sister comes seeking shelter for her husband, who's returned to the U.S. after being deported to Mexico.
Askew's vividly authentic portrayal of small-town, working-class Oklahomans encompasses their gossipmongering and fear of the unknown without mockery, along with rendering their core values, tenacious spirit and bone-deep sense of hospitality without becoming trite or twee. In Kind of Kin, she has crafted an uncannily real cast of characters whose attempts to go about their daily lives intersect with religious and political issues and the choice between the right way and the easy way. Her sensitive and humanizing treatment of this hot-button issue is sure to provoke thought and discussion no matter the reader's political leanings. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Latah County Library District; blogger at Infinite Reads