Blood Kin

Rejacketed and relaunched, Ceridwen Dovey's unforgettable and gripping novel is now in paperback, its natural format: 'Blood Kin is a fable of the arrogance of power, beneath whose dreamlike surface swirl currents of complex sensuality, male and (particularly) female.' J. M. Coetzee 'Blood Kin is a fable of the arrogance of power, beneath whose dreamlike surface swirl currents of complex sensuality.' J. M. Coetzee, author of Disgrace In this enthralling fable, a chef, a portraitist and a barber are taken hostage in a coup to overthrow their boss, the President of a nameless country. They are held captive in a palatial retreat in the mountains high above the capital city. Meanwhile, the chef's daughter, the portraitist's pregnant wife and the barber's lover watch their men from the shadows - for in such precarious times, intimate relationships are as dangerous as political ones. As the old order falls, so does the veil that hides the truth about these men and women's secret passions. Drawing her readers masterfully towards the novel's devastating climax, Ceridwen Dovey reveals how humanity's most atavistic impulses - vanity, vengeance and greed - seethe, relentlessly, just beneath the surface of everyday life. 'Ceridwen Dovey's mesmerising novel lifts the lid on a dictatorship and its perilous aftermath... There is a hypnotic, languorous feel to the writing - even as the conclusion circles with the impatience of vultures over carrion.' Catherine Taylor, Guardian 'An excellently sculpted indictment of avarice, lust and human misery.' Glasgow Herald 'Superb... An Orwellian fable that is as masterful as it is entertaining.' Sunday Business Post