Bestselling young adult fiction author Nicola Yoon says she didn’t set out to write a book for adult audiences. But then the pandemic lockdowns happened, and so did the murder of George Floyd and so did the protests across the country. That summer, the discussions about what it meant to be Black in America were everywhere.
In the fall of 2020, Yoon began to write her latest novel. It took her only six weeks to finish the first draft. SEE ALSO : Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more “That’s not a thing that I’ve ever done before, and it’s not a thing I’ll ever do again.
I am, in general, a very slow writer,” she said, laughing. Three years later, the draft was a fully formed book. It was also very different from the YA romances Yoon is most known for: “Everything, Everything,” and “The Sun is Also a Star,” both of which reached New York Times No.
1 Bestseller status and were adapted for the big screen. Her latest book, “One of Our Kind,” available from Knopf on Tuesday, June 11, is an adult thriller inspired by “The Stepford Wives,” about a Black family from Los Angeles in search of a place to truly call home. “One of Our Kind” is set in a fictional LA-area town of wealthy Black residents called Liberty.
Public defender Jasmyn Williams has been convinced to move there by her husband King, a former teacher now working in finance. He argues that the couple’s newfound wealth will allow their son Kamau an.
