Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
Buy on AmazonThe teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he is eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
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"This reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic coming-of-age novel David Copperfield swaps Victorian England for southern Appalachia, as the eponymous orphan hurtles through a wasteland of post-coal poverty and opioid addiction in search of love and belonging. If that sounds like a downer, it’s anything but. The miracle of Barbara Kingsolver’s menagerie here, led by the indomitable Demon – and the playfulness of her prose – is that they animate every page with an unrelenting hopefulness."
NPR Books We Love — 2022 · apps.npr.org
"Everything about her radiates artistic compassion and bedrock integrity of purpose."
By the Book: Douglas Brinkley · nytimes.com
"It's hard to choose one, but Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead" rises to the top."
By the Book: Robin Wall Kimmerer · nytimes.com
"I love the way Barbara Kingsolver followed some of the plot. Also, Demon is a great narrator — talking the way you can imagine him talking, thinking the way you can imagine him thinking."
By the Book: Se Hinton · nytimes.com