Hardcover
One of Our Kind
“Powerful. . . . Fits in with a recent wave of Black social horror that includes novels like The Other Black Girl and movies like Get Out.” –The New York Times
"Brilliant, provocative, seminal....Your book club will be discussing this one for DAYS.”—Jodi Picoult
WHEN JASMYN AND KING WILLIAMS move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, they hope to find a community of like-minded people where their six-year-old son can thrive. Liberty is a place of expensive homes, an all-Black police force, and statues of their heroes: MLK, Malcolm X, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find other liberals and social justice activists, but Liberty residents seem more focused on living the good life and ignoring the world’s troubles. Why won’t any of her neighbors talk about the recent spate of police brutality in Los Angeles? Is it strange that King’s friends have begun to shave off their locs and Afros? And what happened to the family that lived in Jasmyn’s house before her?
Culminating in a shocking twist, One of Our Kind is a razor-sharp satire about resistance, trauma, community, and the Black experience in America.
Paperback
Praise for One of Our Kind
“Brilliant, provocative, seminal — there aren’t enough adjectives to describe how much food for thought Yoon’s novel provided..Your book club will be discussing this one for DAYS.”
—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Wish You Were Here
“Nicola Yoon can write about any subject beautifully, but what she’s done in One of Our Kind is as thrilling as it is lusciously written. I can’t remember the last time a book kept me turning the pages so quickly, or kept me up so late. One of Our Kind is for readers who want to be taken to the edge of expectation, and solidly dropped into the middle of a new nightmare. I still have goosebumps.”
—Ashley C. Ford, New York Times best-selling author of Somebody’s Daughter
“With haunting and powerful prose, Nicola Yoon brilliantly imagines a world with much to tell us about our own.”
—John Green, New York Times best-selling author of Turtles All the Way Down
“an artful page-turning thriller…constantly mindful that decisions about community and identity can put lives at stake.”
“[A] masterful psychological horror novel…Yoon’s latest will linger in readers’ minds long after its horrifying conclusion.”
“One of Our Kind” is a slim book with short chapters and a freight-train feel...The warmth in Yoon’s writing, though, sets this book apart. The affection and care she has for all her characters and the reasons that have taken them to Liberty deepen the novel’s stakes and heighten its terror. Yoon also reminds us, through Jasmyn’s friendships and her relationship with her husband, King, of the richness and intimacy of Black culture, and underlines how much more we are than our trauma.”
—Kashana Cauley, New York Times
"[An] intense, politically charged thriller set at a gated Black community in Los Angeles, where Jasmyn Williams and her husband, King, learn that the wounds of police brutality and racism affect different people in very different ways. Some just want to wrap themselves in luxury and spa treatments—if that’s what’s really going on at the community's cultish wellness palace. Truly chilling."
—Marion Winik, Oprah Daily
"Provocative...Sure to spark book club conversations for years to come. Who says you can’t tackle big, important contemporary ideas in a page-turning thriller?"
—The Seattle Times
"Many have ventured into the 'neighborhood that is not what it seems' category of suspense, but no one has done it better than Nicola Yoon....Absolutely jaw-dropping."
—Molly Odintz, Crime Reads
“…Yoon presents a riveting tale spiked with surprises, laced with compassion, and designed for discussion…”