Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2023, www.pulitzer.org
Winner of Women's Prize for Fiction 2023
Visit www.womensprize.com for more information
Reviewed by Karen (Retired Bookseller); Demon Copperhead is a brilliant contempary retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
This is a must read, set in South Appalachia, United States, a population of long stuffinh communities, plagued by tragadies, poverty and an opioid crisis. The story is told by Demon, a talented, perceptine child, orphaned at a young age, stuffing from loss, awlful hardship and desperate foster homes. Despite all the darkness there is a strong sense of place, love, friendship, nature and history.
I really cared about Demon and the strong varied characters who shared his life. A favourite read for me.
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK, 'Extraordinary.' - OPRAH
'Electrifying. . . Every sentence here sizzles.' -Daily Mail
'It's EPIC. Righteously angry, DEEPLY moving and exquisitely written.' -MARIAN KEYES
'[Kingsolver] means to save us by telling us stories. . . She comes closer than anyone else I know.' - ANN PATCHETT
Demon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can. Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise. In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty and addiction aren't ideas. They're as natural as the grass grows. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there. Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.
Fiction: general and literary
Paperback
Barbara Kingsolver
560 pages
H: 198mm W: 129mm Spine: 33mm
Weight: 458 grams