| Author |
Kingsolver, Barbara |
| Year |
2012 |
| First published |
2012 |
| Publisher |
New York: HarperCollins |
| Number of pages |
448 |
| Edition |
First US Hardcover |
| ISBN |
9780062124265 |
| Keywords |
climate change, zoology, biology, entomology, arthropodology, FMS Library Book |
Titles discussed
Publications that discuss this title
Abstract
Delia Turnbow is a young mother of two whose formal education ended when she became
pregnant and married her teenaged lover. She lives in poverty with her family on her
father-in-law’s farm in the Appalachian mountains, near the isolated rural community
of Feathertown. When she wanders into a forest that is suffused in a strange orange
flame, she thinks it is a private miracle. But when her father-in-law makes plans
to log the forest to pay off his farm equipment debts, and a charismatic entomologist
shows up from another world to study the phenomenon, the miracle takes on very public
dimensions. As religious, economic and political interests vie to exploit the so-called
miracle and the residents of Feathertown establish their claims, Delia and her young
son forge a friendship with the entomologist and taste the bittersweet fruit of scientific
curiosity and understanding for the first time. This is a compelling and beautifully
written story by one of the of the most popular “literary” novelists in the U.S, though
her “preachy” messages may be a bit too thinly disguised for some critics.(Gaines
FMS)
