Blood kin

'Blood Kin' is set in the southern Appalachians of the US, alternating between the 1930s and the present day.

It's a dark Southern Gothic vision of ghosts, witchcraft, secret powers, snake-handling, Kudzu, Melungeons, and the Great Depression. 'Blood Kin' is told from the dual points of view of Michael Gibson and of his grandmother Sadie.

Michael has returned to the quiet Appalachian home of his forebears following a suicide attempt and now takes care of his grandmother old and sickly but with an important story to tell about growing up poor and Melungeon (a mixed race group of mysterious origin) while bedeviled by a snake-handling uncle and empathic powers she but barely understands.