Oprah Winfrey on Tuesday exclusively announced "Kin" by Tayari Jones as her latest book club pick on "CBS Mornings."
The novel is about two motherless daughters from the fictional town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana, where they grew up as best friends. Their lives take different paths when Vernice leaves to study at Spelman College in Atlanta while Annie heads to Memphis to search for her mother. They call each other "cradle friends."
"They knew each other when they were two babies in a cradle, but their lives diverge," Jones explained. "The difference between the girls is that Annie's mother is out there somewhere where Niecy's mother has passed away, so Niecy knows she'll never see her mother, so she has no hunt for her mother. Maybe a hunt for a mother."
Jones is a best-selling, award-winning author of four other novels, including "An American Marriage," which was one of Winfrey's book club picks back in 2018.
She was shocked when Winfrey surprised her with the news at Random House Tower in New York City.
"You know, she had already chosen 'An American Marriage' and I felt like I didn't know it was possible ... being chosen twice, so I thought you were just saying, 'Hi,' because you are a nice person," Jones joked on "CBS Mornings."
Winfrey, who has only chosen the same author twice about 10 times, said it only happens "because an author is so good it's irresistible."
"I have to say this will become a classic book, I just know it is true. And the reason is because the writing is so profoundly eloquent, but also familiar. I felt like I had gone home to myself. I felt like I was sitting in my grandmother's kitchen. I felt like all these people I knew so well. It felt so familiar. It just felt like a welcome home reunion," Winfrey said.
Read a free excerpt of "Kin" by Tayari Jones
Excerpted from Kin by Tayari Jones. Published February 2026 by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2026 by Tayari Jones.
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Oprah reveals "Kin" as new book club pick
Oprah picks "Kin" by Tayari Jones as latest book club selection
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