Prodigal Summer - by Barbara Kingsolver (Paperback)

About the Book

In a beautiful hymn to wildness, Kingsolver celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature and of nature itself. Over the course of one humid summer, as the urge to procreate takes over the countryside, the novel's characters find their connections to one another in the forested mountains of southern Appalachia.

Book Synopsis

National Bestseller

"A blend of breathtaking artistry, encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. . . and ardent commitment to the supremacy of nature." -- San Francisco Chronicle

In this beautiful novel, Barbara Kingsolver, acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and the Pulitzer-Prize winning Demon Copperhead, and recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters, weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia.

Over the course of one humid summer, as the urge to procreate overtakes the lush countryside, this novel's intriguing protagonists--a reclusive wildlife biologist, a young farmer's wife marooned far from home, and a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors--face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they necessarily share a place. Their discoveries are embedded inside countless intimate lessons of biology, the realities of small farming, and the final, urgent truth that humans are only one piece of life on earth.

Prodigal Summer is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself.

From the Back Cover

Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place.

Review Quotes

"[Kingsolver's] sexy, lyrical fifth novel renders our solitary yearnings with a finely trained eye and ear." - People
"A blend of breathtaking artistry, encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. . . and ardent commitment to the supremacy of nature. . . . .Barbara Kingsolver remains a voice readers have come to respect and love, a writer we will keep reading for as long as she continues to grace us with her bounty." - San Francisco Chronicle
"A triumphant return to the southern Appalachians of her own childhood." - Orlando Sentinel
"A warm, intricately constructed book shot through with an extraordinary amount of insight and information about the wonders of the invisible world." - Newsweek
"As lush, rich and abundant as nature itself ... Prodigal Summer is quietly breathtaking, and its vista awe-inspiring." - Buffalo News
"Compelling ... Lives that are less simple, and far more passionate, than they appear." - Glamour Magazine
"Ms. Kingsolver's writing is generously well-grafted; choice moments ... radiate from nearly every page." - Wall Street Journal
"Full of ... tenderness, humour and earthy spirituality." - Christian Science Monitor
"Kingsolver deftly addresses the struggle between mankind and nature . . . . A lush. . . novel of love and loss in Appalachia." - US Magazine
"A lush, bountiful, opinionated novel of social conscience" - Washington Post Book World
"As illuminating as it is absorbing. . . . Resonates with the author's overarching wisdom and passion." - New York Times