From
the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a
brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it
evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity
Set
in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon
Copperhead
is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a
single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good
looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for
survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern
perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic
success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through
all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture
where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of
cities.
Many
generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his
experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to
children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in
ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he
provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to
the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens'
anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative
powers of a good story. Demon
Copperhead
speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into
beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.