Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver's work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country's highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia.
"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"Full of ... tenderness, humour and earthy spirituality." -- Christian Science Monitor"[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"Ms. Kingsolver's writing is generously well-grafted; choice moments ... radiate from nearly every page." -- Wall Street Journal"As lush, rich and abundant as nature itself ... Prodigal Summer is quietly breathtaking, and its vista awe-inspiring." -- Buffalo News"Kingsolver deftly addresses the struggle between mankind and nature . . . . A lush. . . novel of love and loss in Appalachia." -- US Magazine"Compelling ... Lives that are less simple, and far more passionate, than they appear." -- Glamour Magazine
HA beguiling departure for Kingsolver, who generally tackles social themes with trenchantly serious messages, this sentimental but honest novel exhibits a talent for fiction lighter in mood and tone than The Poisonwood Bible and her previous works. There is also a new emphasis on the natural world, described in sensuous language and precise detail. But Kingsolver continues to take on timely issues, here focusing on the ecological damage caused by herbicides, ethical questions about raising tobacco, and the endangered condition of subsistence farming. A corner of southern Appalachia serves as the setting for the stories of three intertwined lives, and alternating chapters with recurring names signal which of the three protagonists is taking center stage. Each character suffers because his or her way of looking at the world seems incompatible with that of loved ones. In the chapters called "Predator," forest ranger Deanna Wolfe is a 40-plus wildlife biologist and staunch defender of coyotes, which have recently extended their range into Appalachia. Wyoming rancher Eddie Bondo also invades her territory, on a bounty hunt to kill the same nest of coyotes that Deanna is protecting. Their passionate but seemingly ill-fated affair takes place in summertime and mirrors "the eroticism of fecund woods" and "the season of extravagant procreation." Meanwhile, in the chapters called "Moth Love," newly married entomologist Lusa Maluf Landowski is left a widow on her husband's farm with five envious sisters-in-law, crushing debtsDand a desperate and brilliant idea. Crusty old farmer Garnett Walker ("Old Chestnuts") learns to respect his archenemy, who crusades for organic farming and opposes Garnett's use of pesticides. If Kingsolver is sometimes too blatant in creating diametrically opposed characters and paradoxical inconsistencies, readers will be seduced by her effortless prose, her subtle use of Appalachian patois. They'll also respond to the sympathy with which she reflects the difficult lives of people struggling on the hard edge of poverty while tied intimately to the natural world and engaged an elemental search for dignity and human connection. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
"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"Full of ... tenderness, humour and earthy spirituality." -- Christian Science Monitor"[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"Ms. Kingsolver's writing is generously well-grafted; choice moments ... radiate from nearly every page." -- Wall Street Journal"As lush, rich and abundant as nature itself ... Prodigal Summer is quietly breathtaking, and its vista awe-inspiring." -- Buffalo News"Kingsolver deftly addresses the struggle between mankind and nature . . . . A lush. . . novel of love and loss in Appalachia." -- US Magazine"Compelling ... Lives that are less simple, and far more passionate, than they appear." -- Glamour Magazine
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