The Fetishist

A provocative, hilariously savage, and poignant novel by acclaimed author Katherine Min, to be published posthumously, about a daughter's revenge on the man whom she believes drove her mother to her death . . . and nothing goes as planned.

The rain has made everything cold and damp, and it’s the perfect evening for Kyoko to exact her revenge. After years of rage and grief over her mother’s death, Kyoko has decided who is to blame: a man named Daniel, a fellow violinist who had wooed her mother, Emi, during their time together in an orchestra, and then dropped her—driving her to her death. Kyoko follows the unsuspecting Daniel home and manages to get her rash kidnapping plot off the ground . . . and really, what could go wrong?

The Fetishist is the story of three people—Kyoko, a young singer in a punk band who cannot find enough ways to channel her angry sorrow; Daniel, a seemingly hapless man who finally faces the wreckage of his past; and Alma, the love of Daniel’s life, long adored for her beauty and talent, but who spends her final days examining if she was ever, truly, loved. It’s a beautiful, piercing, and timely story that confronts race, ideals of femininity, complicity, and visibility. Written and completed before the celebrated author’s death in 2019, it’s startlingly relevant and prescient, as wise and powerful as it is utterly moving.

Story Locale:Florence, Italy; Baltimore, U.S.

About the Author

Katherine Min received an NEA grant, a Pushcart Prize, a Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, two New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Fellowships, and a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship, and attended residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Jentel, Ucross, Hambidge, the Millay Colony, and Ledig House. Her acclaimed debut novel, Secondhand World, was a finalist for the PEN-Bingham Award in 2007. The Fetishist is her first posthumous publication. katherinekmin.com

Author Hometown: Champaign, IL