‘Octavia Butler was playing out our very real possibilities as humans. I think she can help each of us to do the same’ GLORIA STEINEM
‘Her evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human’ NEW YORK TIMES
From the groundbreaking, award-winning author of Parable of the Sower: one young man with extraordinary gifts must reconcile his own heritage before he can change the fate of humanity.
Lilith’s son Akin looks like an ordinary child. His family live together on Earth, but not in complete peace. The Oankali saved humanity years before, compelled by the desire to create an extraordinary new race of children. But there are those who resist the Oankali and the salvation they offer.
The first of his kind, Akin is more powerful than any other being. He understands the desire to fight for the independence of humanity. He also fears that, if left alone, humanity will destroy itself again.
And when young Akin is stolen from Lilith and their hybrid family, he soon faces an impossible choice. But first he must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two.
PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
‘In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time… for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler’s novel may be unmatched’ NEW YORKER
‘Butler’s prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision’ GUARDIAN
‘Octavia Butler was a visionary’ VIOLA DAVIS
‘One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had’ JUNOT DIAZ
‘An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center’ VANITY FAIR
‘Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct’ LUPITA NYONG’O
‘Her evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human’ NEW YORK TIMES
From the groundbreaking, award-winning author of Parable of the Sower: one young man with extraordinary gifts must reconcile his own heritage before he can change the fate of humanity.
Lilith’s son Akin looks like an ordinary child. His family live together on Earth, but not in complete peace. The Oankali saved humanity years before, compelled by the desire to create an extraordinary new race of children. But there are those who resist the Oankali and the salvation they offer.
The first of his kind, Akin is more powerful than any other being. He understands the desire to fight for the independence of humanity. He also fears that, if left alone, humanity will destroy itself again.
And when young Akin is stolen from Lilith and their hybrid family, he soon faces an impossible choice. But first he must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two.
PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
‘In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time… for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler’s novel may be unmatched’ NEW YORKER
‘Butler’s prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision’ GUARDIAN
‘Octavia Butler was a visionary’ VIOLA DAVIS
‘One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had’ JUNOT DIAZ
‘An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center’ VANITY FAIR
‘Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct’ LUPITA NYONG’O
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had
Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision
[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human
No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential... If you've ever tweeted "All Lives Matter", someone needs to shove Kindred into your hand, and quickly
Kindred is that rare magical artifact . . . the novel one returns to, again and again
One cannot finish Kindred without feeling changed. It is a shattering work of art
[A] must-read novel
Everyone should read at least one novel by the grand dame of science fiction, and Kindred is a perfect (and harrowing and disturbing and brilliant) place to start
The immediate effect of reading Octavia Butler's Kindred is to make every other time travel book in the world look as if it's wimping out... This is a brilliant book, utterly absorbing, very well written, and deeply distressing. It's very hard to read, not because it's not good but because it's so good
A searing, caustic examination of bizarre and alien practices on the third planet from the sun
One of the most original, thought-provoking works examining race and identity
If you haven't read Butler, you don't yet understand how rich the possibilities of science fiction can be
Butler's books are exceptional
Few writers in our field are so good at blending page-turners with philosophical questions so seamlessly
A dark, compelling and still horribly resonant time travel story
Impossible to turn away from once you've devoured the first few pages
