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Prodigal Summer
Reader Score
82%
82% of readers
recommend this book
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.
Book Details
- Publisher: Harper Perennial
- Publish Date: Oct 16th, 2001
- Pages: 464
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 7.80in - 5.20in - 1.20in - 0.75lb
- EAN: 9780060959036
- Categories: • Literary• Small Town & Rural• Political
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About the Author
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, The Bean Trees, and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as books of poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and Coyote's Wild Home, a children's book co-authored with Lily Kingsolver. She also collaborated with family members on the influential Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver's work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has earned a devoted readership at home and abroad. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has received numerous awards and honors including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, Demon Copperhead, the National Humanities Medal, and most recently, the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and its Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.
More books by Barbara Kingsolver
What people are saying
Exploring the American idea through ambitious, essential reporting and storytelling. Of no party or clique since 1857. https://t.co/uHeZCz8ahz
Today’s book recommendation: Try Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver, who was a biologist before she was a novelist, and who "has a knack for highlighting how humans become deeply rooted to place." Find more suggestions from @hhansman here: https://t.co/FGy3isPiTi
Praise for this book
"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
What people are saying
Exploring the American idea through ambitious, essential reporting and storytelling. Of no party or clique since 1857. https://t.co/uHeZCz8ahz
Today’s book recommendation: Try Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver, who was a biologist before she was a novelist, and who "has a knack for highlighting how humans become deeply rooted to place." Find more suggestions from @hhansman here: https://t.co/FGy3isPiTi