Akin is essentially about two unlikely travel companions - an old man and his great nephew who travel to Nice and find out that they are not too disimilar after all. It’s a story that is both unexpected and unique and both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Touching in many ways too.


Noah is a a retired professor who is about to head back to Nice for his 80th birthday. He was born there you see and he wants to find out about his past, the photos he has found which were taken by his mother. Michael is the 11 year old great nephew who is in need of a temporary guardian. The two worlds join - or collide - and their story becomes an interwoven one of past, present and future.

The novel is set in the present day but it also looks at the way in which Noah’s life in the past has turned him into the man he is today. This generational gap showcases a lot of the worries we have today -such as how old and young see and use the internet, how older people may not see the way it can help them to discover the past and see the past come to life. We see how Noah has become the man he is today and it’s a fascinating and complex image which becomes clear.

Michael too is seen through this old/young premise and you have to feel sorry for him needing a temporary guardian and being stuck with this old man at first. The development of the relationship really is something special and lovely to watch. The perfect way to see how past and present, old and young can live in harmony and help us to understand the world and each other.

Two very different people who travel to a neutral setting, albeit one that the old man has links to, is the ideal way for a story about belonging, family and humanity to unfold. What we have in common with each other is so much more than what separates us.

This really is a journey of discovery in every sense of the word and it was a thought-provoking and captivating journey to go on.

79 year-old Noah is about to go on a long deserved trip to Nice when the gets an unexpected phone call. His junkie nephew has overdosed, leaving behind Michael, a disgruntled 11 year old Noah has never met. The very stroppy Michael must now travel to Nice with Noah, They have to get to know one another under the oddest of circumstances, solving a mystery based on some wartime photographs. Akin is a thoroughly charming novel. Four stars.

Akin is a novel about unlikely travel companions looking for answers and for similarities and compromises that will get them through the present. Noah is a retired professor in New York, about to take a trip to Nice—where he was born—for his eightieth birthday. Just before he leaves, he gets a phone call that will change everything: his eleven year old great-nephew who he's never met needs a temporary guardian, and Noah is the closest kin to Michael who is available. Suddenly Noah and Michael find themselves together in France, clashing over everything, but Noah ends up on a quest to work out the mysteries behind some old photos taken by his mother and Michael might be able to help point him in the right directions.

Donoghue takes a short space of time—the trip to Nice—and fills it with the present and past in a way that works well, as Noah thinks about family across generations and the history of Nice during the Second World War but the narrative stays firmly in the present day. There are a lot of details that make it thoroughly modern—from the realities of what children see on the internet to how technology can help solve old mysteries—but it also has a sense of the past and how people are shaped by it. The mirroring of this not only through Noah's family history but through Michael's—with his mother in prison and questions around his dead father—shows that family and history can be varying categories, but still with similar connections and dangers. The writing style makes the novel very easy to get into and it is more gripping than expected as the trip unfurls.

Akin is often very much about the personal—about specific relatives and about two people trying to compromise being forced together—but also tries to keep an eye on larger issues at stake. There perhaps could have been more made of the class issues that are important undercurrents to the novel, but as it is through Noah's perspective, it seems purposeful at times that he often doesn't realise how different his and Michael's lives are not from an age perspective, but a class one. It is a book that ultimately tries to be uplifting and to show that people can have more in common or find more ways to relate than might be expected, and one that you could imagine being made into a film.

A beautiful story of 80 year old Noah who gets saddled with his eleven year old great-nephew Michael after his father dies and his mother is imprisoned.
As they tour the city of Nice in France, their shared and surprising family history is uncovered, beginning with a set of mysterious photos.
I’ve read all of Donoghue’s novels and have found each well-crafted but completely unique.
This works beautifully. Our hearts go out to Noah and Michael and we really care about their burgeoning relationship.
It’s one of those books that’s a wrench to stop reading.
I would really recommend it. It’s beautifully written and almost unbearably poignant.

A beautiful tale of an inter generational odd couple. Poignantly drawn, without cliche or cheap shots. The characters are textured, genuine and compelling. Loved this book.