Bringing together emerging ethnographies on kinship in South Asia, this book explores the idea of kinship as ‘fiction’ in intimate relationships. Fictions and fictive kinship within anthropology are contested ideas. Increasingly, research suggests the idea of intimate relationships has to extend beyond the biological assumption of kinship relations. The idea of fiction is also not free from the biological imagination or the persistent dichotomy of nature-culture/nurture-nature. This edited volume resurrects the idea of fiction and fictive-ness to understand how intimate relationships may use these particular labels, translate into practices, or create an experiential understanding around relationships. The chapters in this book reengage the idea of fiction by exploring the ambiguity within household relationships, the process of making and engaging with a craft and skill, and the intricacies of making children through IVF and third-party involvement. They challenge societal norms of marriage and being married by reframing shared substances and the relationality they carry and by remembering deceased ties through acts of resurrection. Through vivid illustrations of life and living in South Asia, each chapter contributes to an understanding of how fiction and reality are mutually creating each other. This book will be beneficial to students, academics and scholars of anthropology, particularly those interested in kinship and the sociology of the family. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Contemporary South Asia.

Explores the emphasis that contemporary novels, films and television series place on the present, arguing that hope emerges from the potentiality of the here and now, rather than the future, and as intimately entangled with negotiations of structures of belonging. Taking its cue from an understanding of hope as connoting an organizing temporality, one which is often presumed to be projecting into a future, Hope and Kinship in Contemporary Fiction challenges this understanding, arguing that hope emerges in practices of relationality in the present, disentangling hope from a necessary correlation with futurity. Through close readings of contemporary works, including The Road, The Walking Dead, Cloud Atlas, Sense8, The People in the Trees and A Little Life, Gero Bauer investigates how these texts explore structures of kinship as creative and affective practices of belonging and care that claim spaces beyond the heterosexual, reproductive nuclear family. In this context, fictional figurations of the child – often considered the bearer of the future – are of particular interest. Through these interventions into definitions of and reflections on fictional manifestations of hope and kinship, Bauer's analyses intersect with queer theory, new materialism and postcritical approaches to literature and cultural studies, moving towards counterintuitively hopeful readings of the present moment.

The Family in Crisis in Late Nineteenth-Century French Fiction, first published in 1999, focuses on a key moment in the construction of the modern view of the family in France. Nicholas White's analysis of novels by Zola, Maupassant, Hennique, Bourget and Armand Charpentier is fashioned by perspectives on a wide cultural field, including legal, popular and academic discourses on the family and its discontents. His account encourages a close rereading of canonical as well as overlooked texts from fin de siècle France. What emerges between the death of Flaubert in 1880 and the publication of Bourget's Un divorce in 1904 is a series of Naturalist and post-Naturalist representations of transgressive behaviour in which tales of adultery, illegitimacy, consanguinity, incest and divorce serve to exemplify and to offer a range of nuances on the Third Republic's crisis in what might now be termed 'family values'.

At the end of the Qing dynasty, works of fiction by male authors placed women in new roles. Fiction’s Family delves into the writings of one literary family from western Zhejiang whose works were emblematic of shifting attitudes toward women. The mother, Wang Qingdi, and the father, Zhan Sizeng, published their poems during the second half of the nineteenth century. Two of their four sons, Zhan Xi and Zhan Kai, wrote novels that promoted reforms in women’s lives. This book explores the intergenerational link, as well as relations between the sons, to find out how the conflicts faced by the parents may have been refigured in the novels of their sons. Its central question is about the brothers’ reformist attitudes. Were they based on the pronouncements of political leaders? Were they the result of trends in Shanghai publishing? Or did they derive from Wang Qingdi’s disappointment in her “companionate marriage,” as manifested in her poems? By placing one family at the center of this study, Ellen Widmer illuminates the diachronic bridge between the late Qing and the period just before it, the synchronic interplay of genres during the brothers’ lifetimes, and the interaction of Shanghai publishing with regions outside Shanghai.

Family Matters in the British and American Novel examines the literature that challenges and alters widely held assumptions about the form of the family, familial authority patterns, and the function of courtship, marriage, and family life from the late-eighteenth century to the present day.

"Frederick the Great and His Family: A Historical Novel Book III" by Luise Muhlbach is a captivating portrayal of 18th-century Europe, offering readers a glimpse into the inner workings of Prussian royalty. Muhlbach, a master of historical fiction, delves into the complexities of Frederick the Great's reign, exploring not only his military strategies and political maneuvers but also the intricate dynamics within his royal family. Set against the backdrop of German history and the Enlightenment era, Muhlbach weaves a tale of court intrigue and European politics, where power struggles and alliances shape the destiny of nations. Through meticulous research and expert storytelling, she brings to life the nobility and their role in shaping the course of history. At the heart of the narrative are the family dynamics of Frederick the Great's household, where personal relationships intertwine with matters of state. Muhlbach skillfully navigates through the complexities of monarchy, revealing the human side of rulers often obscured by their public personas. "Frederick the Great and His Family" stands as a testament to Muhlbach's literary prowess, offering readers a compelling blend of historical accuracy and engaging storytelling in this remarkable work of historical fiction.

"Frederick the Great and His Family: A Historical Novel Book VI" by Luise Muhlbach is a captivating portrayal of 18th-century Europe, offering readers a glimpse into the inner workings of Prussian royalty. Muhlbach, a master of historical fiction, delves into the complexities of Frederick the Great's reign, exploring not only his military strategies and political maneuvers but also the intricate dynamics within his royal family. Set against the backdrop of German history and the Enlightenment era, Muhlbach weaves a tale of court intrigue and European politics, where power struggles and alliances shape the destiny of nations. Through meticulous research and expert storytelling, she brings to life the nobility and their role in shaping the course of history. At the heart of the narrative are the family dynamics of Frederick the Great's household, where personal relationships intertwine with matters of state. Muhlbach skillfully navigates through the complexities of monarchy, revealing the human side of rulers often obscured by their public personas. "Frederick the Great and His Family" stands as a testament to Muhlbach's literary prowess, offering readers a compelling blend of historical accuracy and engaging storytelling in this remarkable work of historical fiction.

"Frederick the Great and His Family: A Historical Novel Book I" by Luise Muhlbach is a captivating portrayal of 18th-century Europe, offering readers a glimpse into the inner workings of Prussian royalty. Muhlbach, a master of historical fiction, delves into the complexities of Frederick the Great's reign, exploring not only his military strategies and political maneuvers but also the intricate dynamics within his royal family. Set against the backdrop of German history and the Enlightenment era, Muhlbach weaves a tale of court intrigue and European politics, where power struggles and alliances shape the destiny of nations. Through meticulous research and expert storytelling, she brings to life the nobility and their role in shaping the course of history. At the heart of the narrative are the family dynamics of Frederick the Great's household, where personal relationships intertwine with matters of state. Muhlbach skillfully navigates through the complexities of monarchy, revealing the human side of rulers often obscured by their public personas. "Frederick the Great and His Family" stands as a testament to Muhlbach's literary prowess, offering readers a compelling blend of historical accuracy and engaging storytelling in this remarkable work of historical fiction.

One of Literary Hub's and The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022 A Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Mystery of 2022 An acclaimed storyteller returns with “a gorgeous and gripping literary mystery” that explores “family, betrayal, passion, race, culture and the American Dream” (Jean Kwok). The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant’s delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family’s secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last. Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead—presumed murdered—and his sons find they’ve drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant’s reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens—and the family dog meets an unexpected fate—Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father’s outsized appetites and their own future survival. Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.

After fulfilling a pledge to a dying friend, Zacharias Hamilton is finally free. No family entanglements. No disappointing those around him. Just the quiet bachelor existence he's always craved. Until fate snatches his freedom away when the baker of his favorite breakfast bun is railroaded by the city council. Despite not wanting to get involved, he can't turn a blind eye to her predicament . . . or her adorable dimples. Abigail Kemp needs a man's name on her bakery's deed. A marriage of convenience seems the best solution . . . if it involves a man she can control. That person definitely isn't the stoic lumberman who oozes silent confidence whenever he enters her shop. Control Zacharias Hamilton? She can't even control her pulse when she's around him. When vows are spoken, Abigail's troubles should be over. Yet threats to the bakery worsen, and darker dangers hound her sister. Can she put ever more trust in Zach without losing her dreams of independence?