Unsheltered - Large Print by Barbara Kingsolver (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New York Times Bestseller - Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek

"Kingsolver brilliantly captures both the price of profound change and how it can pave the way not only for future generations, but also for a radiant, unexpected expansion of the heart." -- O: The Oprah Magazine

The acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, and recipient of numerous literary awards--including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters--returns with a story about two families, in two centuries, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.

How could two hardworking people do everything right in life, a woman asks, and end up destitute? Willa Knox and her husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where Willa worked has folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter. When the family's one success story, an Ivy-educated son, is uprooted by tragedy he seems likely to join them, with dark complications of his own.

In another time, a troubled husband and public servant asks, How can a man tell the truth, and be reviled for it? A science teacher with a passion for honest investigation, Thatcher Greenwood finds himself under siege: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. In a village ostensibly founded as a benevolent Utopia, Thatcher wants only to honor his duties, but his friendships with a woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town's powerful men.

A timely and "utterly captivating" novel (San Francisco Chronicle), Unsheltered interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval.

From the Back Cover

Willa Knox, a former magazine journalist, and her un-employed professor husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and a house that is falling apart. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter.

In another century, in the same town, the local science teacher, Thatcher Greenwood, finds himself under siege when his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin, and his young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal. Thatcher wants to honor his duties, but perilous friendships threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town's most powerful men.

With history as its canvas, Unsheltered paints a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times, when the foun-dations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.

Review Quotes

"Kingsolver's dual narrative works beautifully. By giving us a family and a world teetering on the brink in 2016, and conveying a different but connected type of 19th-century teetering, Kingsolver creates a sense...that as humans we're inevitably connected through the possibility of collapse, whether it's the collapse of our houses, our bodies, logic, the social order or earth itself...In this engaged and absorbing novel, the two narratives reflect each other, reminding us of the dependability and adaptiveness of our drive toward survival." - Meg Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review

"Unsheltered is a skillful blend of fact and fiction told in alternating chapters... It's a winner all the way...an absolute giant of a book." - New York Journal of Books

"The first major novel to tackle the Trump era straight on and place it in the larger chronicle of existential threats...140 years apart, these alternating stories about Willa and Thatcher maintain their distinctive tones but echo one another in curious provocative ways. Kingsolver suggests it's never been easy to find oneself unsheltered, cast out from the comforts of old beliefs about how the world works...We've adapted before. With a little creative thinking and courage, we might do so again." - Ron Charles, Washington Post

"UNSHELTERED's title suggests a roof gone missing. But it's also a resonant call to be more alert to our social predicaments, to 'stand in the clear light of day.'" - USA Today

"Utterly captivating...Keenly observed and thought-provoking...Kingsolver's much-demonstrated talent for developing truly believable characters is, once again, on full display...Perhaps, more importantly, it's the characters' hardscrabble circumstances--especially in the modern story--that resonate right down to the bone." - San Francisco Chronicle

"I felt almost bereft closing the cover on this book... With a spellbinding narrative and its exquisitely accurate evocation of two eras, Barbara Kingsolver's novel is itself a shelter of sorts. One doesn't want to leave it." - Helen Klein Ross, Wall Street Journal

"Kingsolver brilliantly captures both the price of profound change and how it can pave the way not only for future generations, but also for a radiant, unexpected expansion of the heart." - O: The Oprah Magazine, 15 Best Books of 2018

"Allegorical Unsheltered ties the post-Civil War era to that of Trump...There's hard-won wisdom here, and profound doubt as to where our future is taking us. Kingsolver's voice is urgent, eloquent, wily...Her contemporary narrative is laced with wry, genial humor and the 1870s half of her tale is a gripping study of how battling schools of thought can destroy personal lives." - Boston Globe

"Sophisticated storytelling, compelling characters and sharp humor...Kingsolver is a writer who can help us understand and navigate the chaos of these times." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Barbara Kingsolver does something amazing in her new novel...Uncovering and appreciating the connections between the two stories, historical and contemporary, is the best reason to read the book...Both stories are compelling as Thatcher and Willa lead their families during dangerously uncertain times." - Associated Press

"Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel, Unsheltered, will make you weep...But Kingsolver is also downright hilarious...Unsheltered is also a sociopolitical novel tackling real-world issues, especially how we humans navigate profound changes that threaten to unmoor us." - O, the Oprah Magazine

"Riveting...A tour de force of fiction...about this dynamic conflict between individual expression and communal belonging...One of the most magical parts of UNSHELTERED is how Kingsolver skillfully blends her two narratives into one unified tale, with past and present repeatedly mirroring each other." - BookPage

"Nuanced and convincing...Engrossing." - Jane Ciabattari, BBC News "Preview"

"Powerful." - Book Riot

"Kingsolver's meticulously observed, elegantly structured novel unites social commentary with gripping storytelling...Containing both a rich story and a provocative depiction of times that shake the shelter of familiar beliefs, this novel shows Kingsolver at the top of her game." - Publishers Weekly (Boxed and Starred review)

"As always, Kingsolver gives readers plenty to think about. Her warm humanism coupled with an unabashed point of view make her a fine 21st-century exponent of the honorable tradition of politically engaged fiction." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Exceptionally involving and rewarding...There is much to delight in and think about while reveling in Kingsolver's vital characters, quicksilver dialogue, intimate moments, dramatic showdowns, and lushly realized milieus...An enveloping, tender, witty, and awakening novel of love and trauma, family and survival, moral dilemmas and intellectual challenges..." - Booklist (starred review)

"A return to the more ambitious, grand scale of novels such as The Lacuna and The Poisonwood Bible...A lively and vividly peopled novel of ideas...Clear throughout the novel is a tension between self-reliance and interdependence." - The Guardian (feature)