This is an enthralling, beautiful, magical story full of lavish contrasts and both culture and character clashes but also develops to become an appreciation of the similarities and collaboration between the 2 principal characters, Noah and Michael. After they arrive in Nice, Noah discovers some facts that concern him about his mother's role in Nice during the WW2 whilst in parallel Michael's father's demise in the US could be more than it seems.

The main characters are both wonderful but also frustrating in parts as they struggle to get to know each other and find a way to get on together.

I really wanted to keep on following Noah and Michael but unfortunately the book has ended.

My only reservation about this book is the amount of Americanisms in the text, although luckily it is generally quite easy to guess what they are. The street talk is at least there for a purpose, ie to highlight the generational gap between Noah and Michael. The annoying way in which youngsters live through their electronic devices rather than in the real world is brought vividly to life - you can feel Noah's frustration. The investigation of Margot's life in wartime Nice is interesting and led me to look at more about the Nazi occupation. I found that I have stayed in one of the other hotels they commandeered, not the Excelsior, which I had no idea about at the time.

This is a lovely tale about family in the current day and the 1940s. Highly recommended.

I've always found Emma Donoghue a wonderfully readable novelist, and 'Akin' is no exception. This is a perfectly paced novel, and although it touches on some pretty dark themes, it's a comfortable read.

The central relationship between retired scientist Noah and the troubled young Michael is not really anything new, and a couple of their interactions felt formulaic. But I liked the push and pull of their budding friendship, and there are some lovely flashes of humour. I also enjoyed the mystery element, as Noah uncovers the secrets behind his mother's mysterious war-time photographs. This is what really drives the plot, but it also adds a poignant historical dimension and allows Noah and Michael to have some touching moments of genuine understanding.

I get the impression Donoghue is trying out a slightly different stylistic approach with 'Akin', and although it lacks the impact of 'Room' or the brilliance of 'The Wonder', perhaps it has a more understated charm. 'Akin' might not be shockingly special, but it's hard to deny this is the work of a talented writer.

Another excellent read by Emma Donoghue; I really enjoyed the layers of stories and characters that this comprised of, and the changes and twists to the mother’s story as it progressed.

Noah is 79 and about to retire from his job as a university professor. His wife is dead and so is his sister so he is planning a post retirement trip to Nice, which is where he was born before emigrating to the USA at a very young age in the second world war. However he is contacted by a weary and desperate social worker - his sister's son has died aged 26 of an overdose and had a child with a woman who is now in prison. The social worked wants Noah to assume responsibility for the boy, Michael, as his only living relative. He is rather bullied into agreeing and takes the boy to Nice with him. There as well as forging a relationship they work to discover what Noah's mother was doing in the war - was she a collaborator or a member of the resistance.

I enjoyed much of this book, but I was irritated from the off by the way in which Noah was pretty much forced into taking on the boy - at nearly 80! And Michael is just so obnoxious I would have bought him a plane ticket home pretty quickly. I hoped it wouldn't be a 'mutual redemption' story - but it was - with more to it than just that to be fair.

So 3 stars overall but still worth a read - thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the interaction between pensioner Noel and his great-nephew Michael. I loved the interweaving of family history and French history and I loved the vibrant descriptions of Nice. An uplifting tale of resilience and the true nature of family.

A troubled 11-year-old boy is foisted onto his elderly great uncle when his grandma who has been his carer dies, his father is already dead from a suspected drugs overdose and his mother is rightly or wrongly incarcerated for drug dealing. They have nothing whatsoever in common the elderly man is a retired college professor who has never had children of his own. The story follows a long-awaited trip back to Nice in France where the uncle was born, he has no alternative but to take the boy with him. The boy uses some very colorful language and his behavior is anything but appropriate but the uncle does try to cut him some slack given the circumstances. The book is well written and I enjoyed the banter between them and the descriptions of their trip together.

I enjoyed this book, and found myself completely caught up in the story of the unlikely friendship between Noah and Michael, as well as the unravelling of the story of Noah's mother. However, I found Michael a slightly unlikely character, more like a spoiled middle class child than a child from a poor, and broken home. Noah also takes very well to his quasi-parental role, for a childless 79 year-old. In spite of this, I would recommend this funny, entertaining and engrossing book.

A captivating read - Noah is 79 and widowed, newly retired from University teaching. The book revolves around him finding out more about his family - his nephew and great nephew Michael, who he ends up caring for, and his French mother and grandfather. I wanted to keep on reading and find out how they were going to get along, and had my fingers crossed for Noah and Michael. Most of the book is set in Nice, where Noah learns more about his family, and unearths lots of secrets. It was believable and engaging.

Noah and his great-nephew Michael are thrown together by family circumstances, not happy ones and find themselves on a trip to Nice that Noah had booked previously and doesn’t want to miss.
What follows is an elegiac journey between past and present. Alone, 79 yr old Noah wanted to revisit his birthplace and answer some questions about a period in his Mother’s life he knows very little about. With 11 yr old Michael in tow, grumpy, streetwise and hiding the damage caused by his upbringing not entirely successfully, it becomes an investigation into the history of the French Resistance and much more.
Both protagonists have much to teach each other. There are some wonderful set pieces and running jokes (the museum helmet for instance) as well as unhurried and insightful musings on that period of history. Noah knows some very dark things about the period of WW2 he is researching and many of them throw into stark relief ‘there is nothing new under the sun’.

I was sad when this book ended. It crackled with life and optimism and hope.

I was really excited to read Donoghue's new book Akin, but I'm kind of disappointed.
Noah is a 79 year old retired scientist, who's about to visit Nice, his birth place after so many years.
Suddenly, he learns that he's next of kin for Michael (11 years old), who's his great nephew. His father died, and mother is in jail with noone to take care of him. So, they have to start a forced relationship and travel to Nice together. Michael isn't a child friendly person with no child of his own, and Michael is kind of a rebel boy. In many ways, it reminded me of 'About A Boy.'
The relationship between these two is intersting to read, it's well written and all. Also, a mystery is introduced to the story in Nice from related to WW2 times.
Probably, the biggest reason I feel this book didn't work is, it's very unoriginal. This concept has been handled several times. I'm really surprised that Emma Donoghue, the writer of many original concepts would choose to go for a simple story like this with a quite dull plot.
The feeling I had when I was reading this book was 'been there, done that'. So, it wasn't for me.

But, if you like war mysteries, or the relationship between Michael and Noah is something that attracts you, it might be for you.

A tender, heartwarming and moving story which primarily focuses on the relationship between Manhattan widower, Noah and his intelligent but troubled eleven-year-old great-nephew, Michael. The witty and wryly humourous dialogue between octogenarian, Noah and wayward Michael is a joy to read.

As the story opens we learn that Michael’s father (and Noah’s nephew) Victor is dead, Amber, his mother in prison and so with no other close relatives to provide care, he is placed under the reluctant guardianship of widower, Noah, whom he has never met before. Their fledgling relationship is set against the backdrop of a nostalgic visit to Noah’s childhood home in Nice and his attempt to create meaning out of some long forgotten photos taken by his mother, Margot during World War Two. Noah is harbouring suspicions that his mother was a Nazi collaborator. Michael brimming with intelligence and a sense of injustice helps Noah in his quest to discover the truth.

This novel is an absolutely outstanding, intelligently written read; brimming with wit, poignancy and fascinating historical insights about the French Riviera under Nazi occupation. I was completely absorbed and truly moved by the originality of the story, the tender and affectionate yet simultaneously fractious relationship between Noah and Michael. I can unreservedly say that it is one of my favourite books this year. Having never read Emma Donaghue before I am now keen to read all her previous novels.

For his 80th birthday, Noah is planning to go to Nice in search of his family’s roots. However, his 11-year-old great-nephew who he’s never met is practically foisted on him since the child’s father died of an overdose and his mother is in prison. My first stumbling block was that it is completely ludicrous that Social Services would hand over a minor to his distant relative and let them go abroad together - not happening.
So we have an insolent boy and a crushing bore geriatric busily creating prickly silences in Nice. Okay...next?
Noah is going on and on about his gran-père Père Sonne (personne - nobody, nice play on words) the famous photographer, name-dropping, name-dropping. Okay...next?
And on the story rambles, of course with a large serving of the “Third Reich”, the ubiquitous topic without which, it seems, no book can be published nowadays.
The French’s comment on the book would be “meh”. Just made it to three points.

What appeared at first to be a story of an old man and a young boy foisted upon each other for a trip abroad for a week, finding they had things to learn from each other in the way of such stories, turned out to be so much more. This element is certainly there and the two characters are spot on, their interaction plays out realistically and I enjoyed their banter, but the author also introduces a little mystery as Noah seeks answers to his mother’s war years in France. The city of Nice is an essential player in this as we come to understand its history during the occupation of the 1940s. Noah’s mother’s experience echoes down the ages to his grand-nephew’s fractured family in 21st century New York. Written with sensitivity and insight, their stories melded in a way that had me hoping for a happy outcome for all concerned. A really satisfying read, I have no hesitation recommending it.

This would have tipped to a 4 star for me, except I didn't enjoy the mystery side of things. Noah is a good character, and I (mostly) liked the interplay between Noah & Michael. It did seem, of course, a little far-fetched that a young boy would be handed over to a geriatric distant relative & immediately allowed on a trip to Nice with him, without any vetting procedures whatsoever, but I suspended belief enough to allow that to pass...
What frustrated me more was Noah's obsession with the photographs, and the leaping to conclusions that seemed to occur. He went on and on about the possibility of his mother being a traitor, to the point where I felt I didn't much care anymore what the truth was! And this was frustrating to me because so much of the book was really, really good. It's written with such seeming ease, and I loved Noah hearing the voice of his dead wife all the time, and the history woven into the present day.
This is a good book, and it is mostly really well written, but it just had those few annoyances for me that took the edge off.

Room is one of my favourite books so I was looking forward to reading Emma's latest novel. Now I have to say that it is nothing like Room but neither is it like anything else I have ever read. Probably not a book I will return too however after a bit of a slow start I warmed to the characters and could really picture myself on holiday with them. A very well written piece.

* spoiler alert ** The relationship that builds between the main characters is rather lovely to read.
Michael may be obnoxious,Noah may be set in his ways and a bit of a bore,but as the trip moves on,you can feel them growing to like each other.
From a historical point of view, I found the story of Nice and it's inhabitants interesting.
I did find the ease with which the characters grasped an idea and believed it to be slightly over the top. With very little to back them up.
Also,the constant food talk got a bit tiresome after a while.
Fully enjoyable,but not her best for me.

Noah is a retired 79 year old looking forward to a gentle trip to Nice, the place of his birth. Two days before he goes a social worker, Rosa, contacts him about the 11 year old great-nephew he has never met. Noah becomes the emergency carer for the child or he goes into care. Noah’s trip to Nice takes on a whole new perspective with Michael in tow.

There are quite a few books on the market about people going to trace the land of their forebears & discovering their parents or grandparents part in a war. Here Noah is searching for answers about his Mother and the reason she had a collection of seemingly unrelated photos. Wound into this is Noah’s own history, the relationship with his parents & the legacy his photographer grandfather Pere-Sonne left behind. This all makes for an interesting story.

However, this book adds the refreshing perspective of a streetwise 11 year old. Michael helps & hinders Noah in his search for answers providing a whole new dimension to his trip to Nice.

I really enjoyed this book. Michael’s inclusion makes this fresh & unusual. Noah’s comparisons of Michael’s previous life in a tough New York neighbourhood against his knowledge of the world & the past are interesting. Noah & Michael come from very different worlds in the same city and each has a lot to learn. There are some humorous moments and some very poignant ones. Noah and Michael both make their own mistakes and struggle to get to know each other. Add into this the emerging story of Noah’s Mother’s past and you have a good read.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I really liked this book. Emma Donoghue has written beautifully about the relationship between Noah and Michael. They are good strong characters and their story is a compelling read. Nice and the secrets it holds was a really interesting part of history. The entire story felt so real.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip. Much has changed in this famously charming seaside mecca, still haunted by memories of the Nazi occupation. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. Both come to grasp the risks people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.

It pains me to have to write this but I did not like this one bit. I am desperate not to draw comparisons with 'Room' but this is miles apart from 'Room' and not a book that I enjoyed. What we have here is a journey to discover family history. Noah, accompanied by Michael, ventures back to Nice where he learns more about his family and even unearths family secrets. This is fine but not a lot happens, now I can enjoy a plot where not a lot happens but I found 'Akin' dull, uninteresting and too slow. I was confused from the beginning which sadly set the tone for the rest of the book, confusion mixed with boredom. 'Akin' simply had nothing to entice me to keep reading.

I did find enjoyment through the relationship between Noah and Michael, it was interesting seeing them getting to know each other and there are moments of hilarity as the divide between young and old becomes clear. They were an intriguing duo whom I did enjoy getting to know and following them through their discoveries but I think they deserve a better plot.

'Akin' is set in Nice so at least I got to travel afar to a beautiful setting. Nice is both a stunning and emotional backdrop for 'Akin' with the history, both past and present, leaving memories of torment and despair.

Quite simply, 'Akin' was not for me and was not a book I enjoyed. Donoghue has done a good job creating Noah and Michael but that is as far as my compliments can go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy.