An intellectually and emotionally profound meditation on the prejudices of the past and the ambiguous march of progress, Butler’s stunning time-travel narrative sees a Black woman thrown through points in history where her very presence could sign her death warrant.
Octavia E. Butler's 1979 masterpiece and ground-breaking exploration of power and responsibility, the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid's Tale, The Power and Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing. With an original foreword by Ayobami Adebayo.
'[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' - New York Times
In 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave.
When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he's drowning. She saves his life - and it will happen again and again.
Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them.
And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it's even begun.
Octavia E. Butler's ground-breaking masterpiece is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781472258229
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 230 g
Dimensions: 196 x 126 x 24 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had - Junot Diaz
Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision - Guardian
A dark, compelling and still horribly resonant time travel story - Independent
[Her] evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human - New York Times
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 - The Pool
Kindred is that rare magical artifact . . . the novel one returns to, again and again - Harlan Ellison
One cannot finish Kindred without feeling changed. It is a shattering work of art - Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
[A] must-read novel - BBC
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 - Refinery 29
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 - Tor
A searing, caustic examination of bizarre and alien practices on the third planet from the sun - Kirkus
One of the most original, thought-provoking works examining race and identity - Los Angeles Times
Impossible to turn away from once you've devoured the first few pages - Starburst
If you haven't read Butler, you don't yet understand how rich the possibilities of science fiction can be - Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Butler's books are exceptional - Village Voice
Few writers in our field are so good at blending page-turners with philosophical questions so seamlessly - Cory Doctorow
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“Thought provoking ”
Kindred is part historical fiction/part science fiction. Normally I am not keen on time travelling stories but this one seemed to work.
This story follows Dana a modern black woman who travels back in time to pre...
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“A superb science-fiction novel.”
Dana, a young woman from 1976, finds herself transported back in time to 19th century Maryland. Dana meets a young boy called Rufus and realises he is the reason she is brought to this time period. Her husband, Kevin,... More
“Favourite SF book by far”
This was the first SF book I'd ever read--I was around 14 at the time--and it's stayed with me since. It takes you to a place of humility, necessity, and fear--in a phrase, slavery.
Think Neil Gaiman meets...
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