Nicola Yoon says “One of Our Kind” inspired by “The Stepford Wives” and Toni Morrison

Nicola Yoon, best known for “Everything, Everything” and “The Sun is Also a Star,” has a new book, “One of Our Kind,” coming out from Knopf on June 11. (Courtesy of Knopf)

Best-selling young adult fiction author Nicola Yoon says she didn’t set out to write a book aimed at an adult audience.

But then the pandemic lockdowns happened, as did the killing of George Floyd and protests across the country. That summer, discussions about what it meant to be Black in America were everywhere.

In the fall of 2020, Yoon began writing her latest novel. It only took him six weeks to complete the first draft.

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“It’s not something I’ve ever done before, and it’s not something I’ll ever do again.” In general, I’m a very slow writer,” she says with a laugh.

Three years later, the project was a fully written book. It was also very different from YA romances Yoon is best known for “Everything, Everything” and “The Sun is Also a Star,” both of which reached #1 New York Times bestseller status and were adapted for the big screen.

Her latest book, “One of Our Kind,” available from Knopf on Tuesday, June 11, is an adult thriller inspired by “The Stepford Wives,” about a black family in Los Angeles looking for a real place to call home.

“One of Our Kind” is set in a fictional Los Angeles-area town populated by wealthy black residents called Liberty. Public defender Jasmyn Williams was convinced to move there by her husband King, a former teacher now working in finance. He says the couple’s new wealth will allow their son Kamau and their unborn child to grow up in true security at Liberty – not just physical, but also mental and emotional.

However, upon meeting her fellow citizens, Jasmyn quickly realizes that most of them seem to have given up on the fight for racial equality. They have also fully embraced the trappings of wealth – mansions, maids, multi-course dinners. And of course, there are the eerie-sounding spa treatments at the Liberty Wellness Center, where most residents — including King — now seem to spend hours of their time.

Jasmyn finds it all strange and uncomfortable, but admits she could relax a little and enjoy the safety and comfort of Liberty. After all, she’s made a few friends who also find it strange, so she doesn’t really feel like a stranger anymore. But when these friends begin to change in drastic and incomprehensible ways, Jasmyn becomes determined to find out what’s really going on.

“One of Our Kind” is about race, but Yoon also examines class, social justice culture, and the lengths people can go to feel truly “free” in America. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. What has been different for you writing for an adult audience versus a younger audience?

I think young adults, in general, question things. It’s just that time in your life – you’re coming of age, you’re 16 or 17, you’re pushing your parents’ boundaries, you’re trying to figure out who you are and what the meaning of life is – you’re just asking all the questions. these big questions. I also tend to be a philosophical person who likes to think about big questions, so with my previous books, it was a natural fit for me, you know, to be in conversation with kids.

In the case of “One of Our Kind,” I didn’t know I was going to write a book for adults until I wrote the book. I just had Jasmyn, the main character, on my brain. She was definitely going to be married and have a child and be pregnant, and she was a public defender. She had adult concerns and challenges. It just matched that.

Q. Where did the idea for this book come from?

The idea for this book actually came from a few different places. The first was a conversation I had with a friend of mine, who is an activist; we were both part of a panel on race and racism. Afterwards we went out to dinner and chatted while having a few glasses of wine. And he said, “Have you ever wondered who we would be without racism?

When the protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd were taking place, I had just this question in mind, accompanied by a quote from Toni Morrison: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It stops you from doing your job. It pushes you to explain, over and over again, your reason for being.

Another idea came to me when I was listening to the podcast “You’re Wrong About” and there was an episode on “The Stepford Wives.” Everyone uses “Stepford Wife” in a derogatory way, but actually the book – I had read “The Stepford Wives,” but I had never watched the movies – is very feminist.

When the light bulb went off I screamed to my husband and he came running because he thought I saw a spider or something. I said to him, “Oh, I have a really good idea!” I want to do The Stepford Wives, but Black. And he said, “Hey, it’s not bad!”

So these ideas crashed into my head and I wrote “One of Our Kind.”

Q. The setting of this book is Liberty, a fictional city in Los Angeles meant to be a black utopia. Can you talk about that and how money factors into the story?

I live in Los Angeles myself and there is obscene wealth here. It was actually a lot of fun writing about wealth, about the city spa and weird wellness services – there’s so much about wealthy wellness culture that can be ridiculous, you know ?

I think we talk a lot about race as a society, but we don’t talk about class – including how it can protect you and how it doesn’t protect you at all. If you’re a young black boy walking down the street, you might be very rich, but that doesn’t matter, does it? Because if a passing cop has an agenda, you’re still Black and you’re still walking down the street. Your money may not protect you.

I also wanted to talk about the ways money can take you away from your cause. It’s so easy to sink into the comfort of wealth and let the world pass you by. I think it’s something we’re all subject to – I think it happens to everyone.

Freedom is supposed to be a utopia for black people. But do utopias exist for black people, given the system we all live in?

Q. Back to Jasmyn – where is she from? What inspired you to write to him as you did?

Jasmyn is complicated. It comes from a place we all struggle with, which is wanting to do the right thing in a modern world full of contradictions. For example, we all know that climate change is happening, but we continue to travel on planes that contribute to it. We do things that don’t always serve a larger cause, and that can lead to some guilt. It was born from this feeling. She too struggles with this, to her own detriment in her relationships with her husband and friends.

Jasmyn is also a mother. She wants to protect her son as well as her unborn son from a harsh world for black boys. Her vigilance is motivated by her intense love for her children. But she doesn’t always understand well and she makes an erroneous judgment. He’s a really messy person.

Q. In your acknowledgments, you said you wrote the book out of a feeling of despair and anger. I also felt like there was some fatigue mixed in.

I mean, I think there’s a lot of burnout. How not to be? It’s that Toni Morrison quote again: having to defend your intelligence, your beauty and your right to walk down the street and be left alone. If you are a parent, you must also find ways to protect and advocate for your children. Psychically, it can be exhausting.

Q. You also said that you wrote with a sense of hope. What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

I think what’s missing from a lot of our discourse is a sense of grace — by which I mean really listening to people and letting them be wrong sometimes, rather than believing the worst about each other. I was wrong, and my friends were wrong, and in the end we listen to each other and correct ourselves and move on, and everything is okay.

I don’t want to sound like a Pollyanna – some people are terrible and you shouldn’t talk to them! But I think most people will do the right thing if they know what the right thing is. Having real conversations with grace – I think that’s how things change. That’s what I hope people will do after reading this book.