Barbara Kingsolver - Prodigal Summer

I was given Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer as a present nearly twenty years ago, and for some reason it remained unread. Picking it up recently however I was reminded that books have their moments,. The backdrop to the book deals with ecology and rural America, and perhaps I got more out of it in 2022 then if I'd read it when I was first gifted it. In Prodigal Summer Kingsolver weaves three, loosely connected stories together, centred on the rural communities of southern Appalachia in the United States. Here small farms struggle to make ends meet producing tobacco alongside a few animals. The beautiful forested mountains are home to an impressive ecological system that invites study, and leisure and the communities themselves, tightknit towns of extended families invite gossip, political disagreement and loneliness in equal measure.

Up in the forests, ranger and ecologist Deanna Wolfe studies a family of newly arrived Coyotes, musing on how they're connected to wider ecological systems, yet invite hunting for their perceived threat to farm animals. Her solitary life is disturbed by a handsome young hunter who finds her and they become unlikely lovers, to Wolfe's great embarrassment. Down among the farms a pair of grouchy retired neighbours bicker about god, farms - chemicals versus organic - and different outlooks on life. On a farm that has become outsider Lusa Landowski's through widowhood, she wonders whether its possible to break free of tradition and family farming and sees the landscape through completely different eyes to those of her deceased husband's family.

The three stories weave together through the ties that bind rural communities - of debts incurred and assistance needed. They are all shaped by ecological realities, and Kingsolver gives a skilful lesson in nature and ecological webs, through the eyes of her protagonists. But all this is to the backdrop of a sweltering summer that threatens economic and ecological woes, while everyone is enticed with romance and sex. 

I enjoyed this immensely, much as I recall being enthralled by Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. The author's knowledge and attachment to the area comes through beautifully, as does her love of nature itself. It's tempting to see the author in all three of her main characters, though perhaps she's present in several others too. Beautifully written, deeply moving and warm throughout, these are stories that don't really end - just continue onward.

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