When I read early this year that Tayari Jones had a new novel coming out, I was happy to see that. And my joy was justified. What a wonderful audiobook this has been for me.
It is the story of two “cradle friends,” Vernice and Annie, who grew up in the 1950s in rural South Louisiana. Neither of them had mothers; Annie’s mother, a child herself, had left Annie with her grandmother, a grumpy woman not interested in raising another child. Vernice’s father shot her mother, then killed himself. She was raised by an aunt who gave up a comfortable life in Ohio to raise her. Though both the girls were motherless, unlike Annie’s grandmother, Vernice’s aunt had the wherewithal to provide a stable environment with enough money to get her to Spelman College. Aunt Irene often made inappropriate declarations to little Vernice and castigated herself for not knowing how to talk to children and did not feel she was fit to be a mother.
The story of these two friends, growing in different ways as they became women, was always engaging and explored the role of mothering. Annie became obsessed with finding her mother, while Vernice sought a more motherly woman to oversee her young adult life. They remained cradle friends whatever came their way.
Along with creating the brutally racist world the friends inhabited, the author introduced us to a wide range of characters, from a very successful woman connected to Spelman who loved her afternoon limoncello, the proprietor of a brothel, a sophisticated roommate for Vernice who dubbed her “Country Mouse.” They add up to a fully human cast of characters surrounding Vernice and Annie.
I was so engaged in listening to it, that I didn’t mark the many passages with language that caught my attention. One I did mark was the use of a phrase I had never heard, “selling someone wolf tickets.” In this case, Annie and two others were sold “a pocket full of wolf tickets” by Clyde who planned ahead just enough to bring a few gallons of water to keep his car running long enough to escape Honeysuckle, Louisiana, but not to get very far without overheating. Another phrase that is irresistible describes how drunk a person was: drunk as four skunks and a rhino.
I loved my time living with these characters and I was sad when it was over.
Tayari Jones, Kin, Alfred A. Knopf, 2026, 343 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available in the public library.