“The celebrity chef’s raw and darkly humorous memoir explores her family’s demise and reconstruction—through divorce, estrangements, a brother’s sudden death and another’s suicide.”—People
“It’s often said—and almost never true—that groups of people who work together become like family. So, one could be forgiven for thinking this new memoir from chef and author (Blood, Bones & Butter) Gabrielle Hamilton is again about her life in restaurants. Instead, the James Beard Award winner focuses on her own incredible, complicated clan, examining what made her so thrilled as a child to be part of this singular clan and what, later in life, wrenched them all apart.”—Town & Country
“You won’t be able to put down Gabrielle Hamilton’s story of the excitement, resilience, agony, and defiance required to be a member of her family. She doesn’t mess around. In her singular, lyrical style, Hamilton has given us nothing less than an exploration of death, love, and the meaning of life.”—Ariel Levy, New York Times bestselling author of The Rules Do Not Apply
“Gabrielle Hamilton has crafted a shimmering and achingly beautiful exploration of family—those bonds that forge us, the secrets that define us, and the what-ifs that haunt us long after we think we’ve moved on. Tender yet unflinching, she reveals how the people we’re born to remain woven into the fabric of who we become, whether we welcome that inheritance or not. This is a book that will burrow deep into your heart and stay there, the way family does.”—Michael Hainey, New York Times bestselling author of After Visiting Friends
“Gabrielle Hamilton’s Next of Kin is piercing, horrifying, and perversely gorgeous, to name a few of its more prominent attributes. It charts, with almost murderous precision, the myriad ways in which family and fate collide. One rarely gets to use the word “profound,” under any circumstances. In its acumen, in its fullness of emotion, in the stunning ferocity of its prose, Next of Kin is profound.”—Michael Cunningham, New York Times bestselling author of The Hours and Day
“Starts with a sandwich and works its way through the small-print menu of the heart. A story to fill you up and with plenty to take home . . . I loved it.”—Jeanette Winterson, New York Times bestselling author of Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
“James Beard Award winner Hamilton (Blood, Bones & Butter) serves up a nuanced and nourishing look at her idiosyncratic family. . . . Hamilton is hardly the first writer to find deep sorrow beneath her family’s glittering facade, but the vivid detail of her scenes and her rigorous pursuit of the truth feel revelatory. Layered, moving, and funny, this is a must-read.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
