Prodigal Summer

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

"'(Barbara Kingsolver's)...marvellously subtle and compelling tale of a southern Appalachian farming community in tense interplay with the wilderness on its doorstep, contains a deft parable of humankind's place in nature. Prodigal Summer is a rich and compulsive read. Its acute and sensuous observation of the natural world reveals an unexpected beauty, as it traces human love in the flight of a luna moth.' Guardian"

UK Kirkus review

Kingsolver's new novel is a treat for a very special occasion. Her unlikely heroine, Deanna, is a 40-something naturalist holed up in a mountain-side cabin, blissfully happy in her solitude, who spends her days tracking the forest and following the trail of her beloved coyotes. But the tranquillity of her lifestyle is about to be shattered by an encounter with 'ferociously beautiful' Eddie Bondo, a bounty hunter who threatens everything she stands for. Meanwhile, down in the valley, city girl and biology graduate Luca, of Jewish immigrant descent, is chafing against her husband Cole, his tobacco farm, his five sisters and the restless solitude of her days - which is about to be broken in a sad and startling way which brings her back to her core self and gives her roots for the first time. Then there's lonely, crusty Garnett, retired teacher and botanist, locked in a barely-repressed feud with his feisty, organically-inclined neighbour Nannie Rawnsley, who starts by rescuing him from a snapping turtle and then sets out to rescue his soul. Garnett spends his energy attempting to graft a resilient strain of Japanese chestnut tree onto the blighted local one, but is blind to the blight he's driven into his own life. At first there seems to be no link to the stories; indeed, I felt irritated when I had to leave the eroticism of Deanna's tale, which no doubt says more about me than about this carefully-woven tale, because gradually the characters begin to intertwine like the foliage of the forest. I've spent a reading lifetime avoiding descriptive passages by even my favourite authors (Austen included), but here the scenery is as magnetic and alive as the characters. If you read it as patiently and as lovingly as Kingsolver has written it, I can promise you the most revealing and satisfying of resolutions. I really admired her previous book The Poisonwood Bible - but I think I may have relished this one even more. Review by MAUREEN LIPMAN. Editor's note: Maureen Lipman is an actress, comedienne and author of Lip Reading. (Kirkus UK)

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