Product Description

From an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, is caught off-guard by a young hunter who changes utterly her self-assured, solitary life. Lusa Maluf Landowski finds herself unexpectedly marooned on her husband's farm where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land. Garnett Walker and Nannie Rawley, a pair of elderly, feuding neighbours, tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected. Over the course of one humid summer in the Appalachian mountains these characters discover their connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they share their place in the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13389 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer the characters are intimately connected to the countryside that they inhabit and are seen as an integral part of the flora and fauna of the novel's setting--the Appalachian Mountains, in Alabama. The novel teems with life; everything is a-buzz with reproductive hormones--animals, plants and people alike. Up in the mountains nature is getting down to the business of keeping itself going, and the novel's characters are also consciously or instinctively caught up with procreation.

Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, wanders the mountain trails and watches a den of coyotes, while becoming involved with a young hunter; Lusa Maluf Landowski, who loves moths, finds herself mourning her farmer husband, surrounded by his relations and their children. Even those past child-bearing age, like grumpy old Garnett and his feisty neighbour Nannie wrangle over pesticides and weeds, and then succumb to love. All around them flowers bloom and trees blossom. It is a beautifully observed novel, reminiscent of the work of Annie Dillard and Rachel Carson. Deanna says: "So much detail goes unnoticed in the world" but Kingsolver has used her biologist eye to see even the smallest thing. Pulsing fire flies, the powdery scales on a moth's body, cub coyotes playing like swimming dolphins are caught in her gaze. The characters in thrall to their hormones and their hearts are regarded with the same attention.

Prodigal Summer is a hugely involving novel, written with a graceful compassion for all living things and their vital interactions with each other, making it a joy to read. Kingsolver's previous novels include The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven. --Eithne Farry

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"

About the Author
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of many novels including The Poisonwood Bible, Pigs in Heaven, and Homeland, all published by Faber. She lives with her husband and daughter in southern Arizona and in the mountains of southern Appalachia.

Customer Reviews

A completely satisfying novel
I loved this book. It shares several themes - fundamentalist Christianity, the power of nature, family ties and the irresistible thrum of sexual attraction - with The Poisonwood Bible, which I also loved. This book is set more 'down home' in a southern state of the US, but is no less powerful for it. In fact the author seems more confident with this context. I learned a lot of interesting stuff about natural history from it and also fell in love with the characters and landscape. There is an erotic quality to Barbara Kingsolver's writing, which is totally devoid of sleaze and I think she is utterly brilliant. I am rationing the rest of her books out - I want to savour them.

Ecology, Relationships, and Sex
The other reviews of this book are so good, thoughtful, and complete, that I don't have much left to add!

This book is about ecology, biology, relationships, feelings, and sex. The book consists of three intersperced love stories-all three incredibly sensuous, intertwined with ecological themes (the author is trained as a biologist). This book was completely different from the Poisonwood Bible, an an easier read in terms of enjoyment. I loved the Poisonwood Bible, but it also disturbed me. This book was pure pleasure. I did have the feeling that this book might be too slow-paced for many men. It deals mostly with the intricacies of relationships between the characters, and their feelings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.

Pure poetry..
From the moment I opened the first page and began reading this masterpiece by Barbara Kingsolver, I was completely captivated by the beauty of her words. She effortlessly combines three stories into one, linking each with delicate threads. This book is apt for today, touching upon the tragedies that humanity has brought to the natural world, but at the same time delighting in the small wonders (from moths to mushrooms) that are with us each day. Barbara Kingsolver's keen observation of flora and fauna and the interaction of humans is delightful. This is a book to read over and over, on a warm summer's evening with the swallows overhead or a rainy morning snuggled up in bed!