“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, New York Times bestselling author of Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible, 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.
“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, New York Times bestselling author of Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible, 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.
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Find Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
3 books in catalog
American fiction, poetry, and essay writing often intersect with environmental science and social critique, but few bodies of work integrate these disciplines as directly as the novels of Barbara Kingsolver. Known widely for The Poisonwood Bible, a sweeping narrative following a missionary family in the Congo, Kingsolver has produced a distinct catalog of prose examining rural life, human responsibility, and complex family structures. Her 2022 novel Demon Copperhead received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, establishing her major role in contemporary American literature.
Born Barbara Ellen Kingsolver on April 8, 1955, in Annapolis, Maryland, she grew up in rural east-central Kentucky. During her childhood, she lived briefly with her parents in the Congo, an early experience that informed her later creative writing. Kingsolver pursued formal scientific education, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona. Prior to publishing fiction professionally in 1985, she worked as a scientific writer and freelance journalist, establishing a research habit that continues to shape her novels.
Kingsolver published her debut novel, The Bean Trees, in 1988, followed by works of short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction including Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike. Over two decades spent in Tucson, Arizona, and later in southwestern Virginia, she expanded her output across multiple genres. In 2000, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal for service through the arts and founded the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She also collaborated with her family on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, an influential non-fiction account detailing a year of eating locally.
Kingsolver's literary style pairs rigorous ecological observation with deep character studies. Grounded in her background as a biologist, her narratives frequently focus on environmental conservation, biodiversity, regional agriculture, and the delicate interdependence between human communities and local ecosystems. Her work systematically examines social justice, political displacement, post-colonial history, and the resilience of working-class families navigating systemic hardship.
3 books in catalog
American fiction, poetry, and essay writing often intersect with environmental science and social critique, but few bodies of work integrate these disciplines as directly as the novels of Barbara Kingsolver. Known widely for The Poisonwood Bible, a sweeping narrative following a missionary family in the Congo, Kingsolver has produced a distinct catalog of prose examining rural life, human responsibility, and complex family structures. Her 2022 novel Demon Copperhead received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, establishing her major role in contemporary American literature.
Born Barbara Ellen Kingsolver on April 8, 1955, in Annapolis, Maryland, she grew up in rural east-central Kentucky. During her childhood, she lived briefly with her parents in the Congo, an early experience that informed her later creative writing. Kingsolver pursued formal scientific education, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona. Prior to publishing fiction professionally in 1985, she worked as a scientific writer and freelance journalist, establishing a research habit that continues to shape her novels.
Kingsolver published her debut novel, The Bean Trees, in 1988, followed by works of short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction including Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike. Over two decades spent in Tucson, Arizona, and later in southwestern Virginia, she expanded her output across multiple genres. In 2000, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal for service through the arts and founded the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She also collaborated with her family on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, an influential non-fiction account detailing a year of eating locally.
Kingsolver's literary style pairs rigorous ecological observation with deep character studies. Grounded in her background as a biologist, her narratives frequently focus on environmental conservation, biodiversity, regional agriculture, and the delicate interdependence between human communities and local ecosystems. Her work systematically examines social justice, political displacement, post-colonial history, and the resilience of working-class families navigating systemic hardship.
