Kinfolks

Two African American women whose premeditated single motherhood was a political statement 20 years ago animate Lattany's funny and poignant third novel. Patrice Barber and Cherry Hopkins, both in their late 40s, share a friendship dating back to the 1960s, when they participated in the civil rights movement. Patrice's son, Toussaint, and Cherry's daughter, Aisha, have been inseparable since childhood, and no one is surprised when they become engaged. In a contrived plot device, Patrice tumbles to the coincidence that Toussaint and Aisha share an allergy and an identical pattern of moles. Neither Cherry nor Patrice has ever admitted the identity of the men who sired her child. Confession time on both sides: the father of both turns out to be poet and revolutionary Eugene Dessalines Green, whose current whereabouts are unknown. The young people adjust to half-sibling status with what is almost a sense of relief, but Patrice determines to locate Green's other offspring to prevent other instances of inadvertent sibling romance. Enlisting Cherry's aid, Patrice ferrets out Green's other lovers, women like themselves--independent, proud, intelligent and without regrets. Green's reappearance is yet another coincidence, but Lattany handles it well. Patrice and Cherry, their worldly-wise children and the magic man who reenters their lives are some of Lattany's (Guests in the Promised Land) most mature creations, and she uses them to demonstrate that true kinship resides in the heart rather than in the bloodline. Author tour. (Nov.)