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Prodigal Summer

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver intricately weaves three narratives set against the vibrant backdrop of southern Appalachia's forested mountains and small farms. Across one sultry summer, a reclusive wildlife biologist, a young farmer's wife isolated from home, and two elderly feuding neighbours navigate distinct challenges, discovering unexpected connections with each other and the natural world. Through their stories, the novel explores profound lessons about biology, small-scale farming, and humanity's place within the broader tapestry of life.
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Format: Hardback
$6500

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This novel will appeal to readers who appreciate character-driven stories deeply rooted in nature and environmental themes, as well as fans of literary fiction that combines ecological insight with human emotion.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

"Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud."--

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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 Distinguished 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 neighbours—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

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780060199661

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 07 November 2000

Country: United States

Imprint: HarperCollins

Edition: Large type / large print edition

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 159.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 885g

Pages: 624

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. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.

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