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WonderKin

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WonderKin

By: Colin Winnette
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Summary

Propulsive, clear-eyed, and surprisingly tender, WonderKin is PEN/Faulkner finalist Colin Winnette’s profound portrait of love in our unpredictable future.

When Charles wakes in the night to find a humanoid machine named Saul trying to break into his home, he is more bemused than terrified.

The city is filled with these ‘models’. Originally designed for service, they now roam freely as part of a controversial government initiative to create the illusion of a populated world. As a father of two, Charles does not have much time for politics; tomorrow is his twin sons' tenth birthday, and he wants nothing more than to give them one perfect day. But here is Saul, inexplicably asking for Charles’ help, and it becomes impossible to turn him away.

As the pair embark on a haphazard mission, the trappings of family, work, driverless cars, AI death cults, and a mysterious company named WonderKin begin to collide. It soon becomes clear that Saul is not who he says he is – but neither is Charles.

Written with humour and grace, Colin Winnette’s indelible story lights the way forward, guiding readers through the strange new world already taking shape around us.

© Colin Winnette 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction

Critic Reviews

Colin Winnette deftly uses the subject of technology to plumb what it is to be human: how we ought to be —whether as lover, as parent, as child, or simply as a person. WonderKin is a riveting, funny, and touching novel about our uneasy contemporary moment (Rumaan Alam, New York Times bestselling author of ENTITLEMENT and LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND)
As suspenseful, gripping, and immersive as it is humane and compassionate, Wonderkin is a powerful novel of fatherhood for our near-dystopian era of AI agents and hyperreality. Readers will fall in love with Charles and his sons as they navigate the hazy boundaries between the human and the machine, searching for new forms of connection in a perilous, alienating world. A stunning work of imagination (Bruce Holsinger, bestselling author of CULPABILITY)
Fans of Ted Chiang and Emily St. John Mandel, don’t miss Wonderkin
Wonderkin grabs hold of you and never lets go. Big-hearted, unflinching, and wholly original, this is a book that fearlessly plumbs the depths of human consciousness and reminds us how important we are to each other. No one writes like Colin Winnette (Kate Folk, author of SKY DADDY)
An ingenious, moving, hypnotic, and perfectly executed novel about love in a time of technological ferment. Colin Winnette’s speculative world feels more real than real life itself (Karan Mahajan, author of THE COMPLEX)
Wonderkin is an absolute marvel of a novel - speculative and intimate, emotionally generous and intellectually alive. I couldn't stop turning this book's pages until I reached the last one, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since (Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of AMERICAN RAMBLER)
[On Users] In gripping prose and disturbingly sharp focus, Colin Winnette presents us with a not-too-distant future where technology and selfhood have become completely entangled (Hernan Diaz, Pullitzer Prize-winning author of TRUST)
[On Users] Full of the unique absurdity, dark humor, and character insight that make Colin Winnette's work such a joy (Jeff Vandermeer)
[On Users] Told in refreshingly unadorned prose that lets Winnette's characters and ideas shine . . . a timeless and moving story (Jessamine Chan, The New York Times Book Review)
[On Users] Winnette captures the anxiety and paranoia of the current age in a tale that will have you ripping through the pages. Haunting, clever, witty, terrifying, moving; reader, I loved it (Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of LESS)
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