The Kin

June 1, 2003
Favorite fiction returns in volumes designed to attract new readers. Master storyteller Peter Dickinson's tale of The Kin, set in Africa 200,000 years ago, reexamines themes he explored in A Bone from a Dry Sea. One impressive volume gathers the four tales originally published separately in the U.S. (Suth's Story; Noli's Story; Ko's Story; and Mana's Story). The quartet relates the epic adventures of a small band of children who struggle to survive after their families have been killed. Dickinson intersperses within their narrative a smattering of "Oldtales," the pourquoi myths of their tribe, the Kin. PW said in a starred review of Noli's Story, "The real adventure here is the exhilarating mix of ideas the novel so nimbly sets forth."