Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich is the thoroughly enjoyable story of Nub Taylor who hasn’t had the easiest of lives and hasn’t been easy on those in his life.

Nub had musical talent and he had opportunities, but drink got in the way of that and perhaps his time in the War was the reason for the drinking problems. He was a disappointing husband to Loretta and an embarrassment of a father to Emily and not much of an employee either.

Set in small-town Alabama, Kinfolk is a detailed and interesting exploration of southern people, their relationships and mid-70s rural-Alabama culture.

Nub turns his life around after an especially problematic drinking session and a chance encounter when he sees a local teenage boy harassing Minnie, a girl who works in a local Waffle House. AA meetings help, a blossoming relationship with the bar maid who also attends AA, and Minnie who turns out to be 15, pregnant to that boy who was harassing her and newly-orphaned. Minnie proves to be a talented singer and Nub encourages her to achieve the dreams he once had.

Nub is a likeable drunk and the reader quickly sides with him in the neighbourly and family disputes as well as his brushes with the law.

There’s a parallel plot that involves a newly-released prisoner, the mafia from which he stole and hid a serious load of cash and their intention to get that cash back by threatening Minnie, but I think I shouldn’t write much more about that, other than to say it adds some excitement and tension to the story.

I really enjoyed reading this well-constructed story. The characters are well-developed as are the ebbs and flows of their relationships.  

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