Description

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From the bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and "one of the most imaginative and adventurous of the young Irish novelists working today" (Irish Independent) comes John Boyne's Next of Kin.

Boyne steps into the drawing rooms and private clubs of the prewar English aristocracy to offer an unobstructed view of a social elite driven by the conflicting desires to uphold tradition and to acquire vast wealth.

It is 1936, and London is abuzz with gossip about the affair between Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson. But the king is not the only member of the aristocracy with a hard decision to make. Owen Montignac, the handsome and charismatic scion of a wealthy family, is anxiously awaiting the reading of his late uncle's will, for Owen has run up huge gambling debts and casino boss Nicholas Delfy has given him a choice: Find 50,000 pounds by Christmas or find yourself six feet under. So when Owen discovers that he has been cut out of the will in favor of his cousin Stella, he finds that even a royal crisis can provide the means for profit, and for murder.

Next of Kin vividly captures the spirit of 1930s London, revealing the secrets of the upperclass, complete with gambling, murder, an art heist, and a conspiracy to unseat the new king that could change the future of the country.

About the Author

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John Boyne is the author of Crippen, The Thief of Time, Next of Kin, and the New York Times and internationally bestselling The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Boyne won two Irish Book Awards (the People’s Choice and the Children’s) for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was made into a Miramax feature film, and his novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Ireland's Sunday Business Post named him one of the forty people under forty in Ireland "likely to be the movers and shakers who will define the country's culture, politics, style and economics in 2005 and beyond." Crippen was nominated for the Sunday Independent Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award. He lives with his partner in Dublin.

Praise For…

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“One of the most imaginative and adventurous of the young Irish novelists working today.” —Irish Independent

“[A] well-plotted thriller . . . fans of Jacqueline Winspear and David Roberts will be well rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly

“A narrative pace that never flags for an instant, a solid cast of characters, a vividly imagined re-creation of a particular historical moment . . . if thrillers are to work they must be thrilling. And this is where Boyne scores highest of all. ” —The Irish Times