With the passing of a new state law, it becomes a felony to harbor an undocumented immigrant in Oklahoma. So when Robert John Brown, a churchgoing family man and respected community member, is caught hiding a barnful of migrant workers with no papers, he is arrested and sent to prison. Meanwhile, his ten-year-old grandson Dustin tries to help the sole escapee of the raid reunite with his family, and his granddaughter, Misty, is struggling to raise her daughter alone after her husband, an undocumented immigrant himself, has been deported. Then there's Brown's daughter Sweet, who finds her life unraveling: her father is refusing to speak in court to defend himself, her nephew is missing, her niece is in need of shelter, and the stress of it all is destroying her marriage. Rilla Askew's brilliant, hilarious, and heartfelt novel follows a handful of complicated lawmakers and lawbreakers as workers are exiled, friends turn informers, and families are torn apart in a statewide exodus of Hispanics. In the end, Kind of Kin reveals how an ad hoc family, and an entire town, will unite to do anything necessary to protect its own. “A haunting, engrossing portrait.” - Washington Post on Fire in Beulah “A tinderbox of a novel.” - Boston Globe on Fire in Beulah “Poignant.” - Riverfront Times (St. Louis) on Fire in Beulah “Wonderful . . . Askew’s unflinching portrait of a family whipsawed from within and without is a story for our time. It’s proof of Askew’s flat-out genius that Kind of Kin is merciless, yet strangely full of mercy.” - Ben Fountain, author Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk “Part folk ballad, part jazz riff, part sad woman blues, this story of a wounded outlaw and the young girl who loves him is as musical as anything I’ve read since Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter.” Molly Giles, author of Ironshoes - Molly Giles, author of Ironshoes, on Harpsong “[Rilla Askew’s] prose is rich, leisurely, graceful and engages all the senses and encloses the reader in a bell jar of heat, hate and budding violence.” - Publishers Weekly on Fire In Beulah “Askew’s novel delivers the unexpected. It has moments both funny and sublime.” - Denver Post “Askew has created a realistic and compassionate reflection of the people who populate our neighborhoods and our nation today.” - Seattle Times “Compelling...this novel is rich, rewarding, and humane.” - Publishers Weekly “Askew deftly weaves together a narrative that foregrounds a number of important contemporary issues: religion, immigration, the economy and the effect of all of these on family life.” - Kirkus Reviews “Askew deftly weaves together a narrative that foregrounds a number of important contemporary issues: religion, immigration, the economy and the effect of all of these on family life.” - Kirkus Reviews “ Kind of Kin does not disappoint. In fact, it is so good, so cogent and poignant and dead-on perspective, I would very much like to make it required reading for anyone who harbors strong opinions on immigration policy, on either side of the metaphorical border.” - Dallas News “A brilliant evocation of Heraclitus’s axiom that character is fate-an ironic evocation she both confirms and turns on its head…Askew immerses us in the frightening dynamics of every situation while illustrating the focused moral prescience of a novelist of superb acumen.” - Jewish Book World Kind of Kin is about how we are all connected and how we might transcend barriers of race and fear. Askew’s astonishing ending, which, like life, is messy and incomplete, and so filmic, you might find yourself casting the characters. - San Francisco Chronicle “Intelligent and gripping...Askew’s strength as a novelist is just this; through an accretion of believable detail and judgment-free descriptions, she creates characters in whose fate you can’t help but become invested.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune “Askew deftly weaves these storylines together to create an engaging read.” - Tulsa World “Written in the rawboned, heartfelt and often funny prose that has defined much of her [Askew’s] earlier acclaimed works on the Great Plains…Extraordinary novel.” - Huffington Post “ Kind of Kin does not disappoint. In fact, it is so good, so cogent and poignant and dead-on perspective, I would very much like to make it required reading for anyone who harbors strong opinions on immigration policy, on either side of the metaphorical border.” - Dallas News “ Kind of Kin is equally full of grace, humor and much love for Oklahoma and its people. A contemporary classic, this novel is an ideal choice for book clubs and anyone with a love of character-driven, lyrically written and issues-oriented fiction.” - Tulsa Book Review “ Kind of Kin is beautiful, funny, politically alive and savvy. Askew does character like no American writer and her nuanced vision of the relationship between the Big Picture and the lives of regular Americans is unrivaled.” - Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA “Th