Prodigal Summer
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Synopsis
Triumphing once again, Barbara Kingsolver has written a beautiful new novel: a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself
Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives in southern Appalachia. At the heart of these intertwined narratives is a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches them from an isolated mountain cabin where she is caught off-guard by Eddie Bondo, a young hunter who comes to invade her most private spaces and her solitary life. Down the mountain, another web of lives unfolds as Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer’s wife, finds herself in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities the future holds.
Over the course of one long summer, these characters find connections to one another, and to the land, and the final, urgent truth that humans are only one piece of life on earth.
Synopsis source: The StoryGraph
Review
Genre(s): Fiction, Nature
HB&W Rating: 5 stars
View on StoryGraph, Goodreads
Buy on Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Believe it or not, this was my first Barbara Kingsolver book, but it won’t be my last. I chose this one for my April pick for my 2026 Book Challenge. The prompt this month was “Nature on the Page” and Prodigal Summer checked every box. This book feels like being wrapped in a warm blanket with a hot cup of tea on a rainy day—pure comfort. I found the meandering prose beautiful, insightful, educational, and entertaining.
Having listened to this book, the audio was fantastic. I loved the touches of birdsong between chapters and it wasn’t until the end of the book that I realized it was read by Kingsolver herself, whose voice was as soothing and melodic as her prose.
It was a wonderful story about human nature, the natural world, our place in it, and how interconnected we all are. It speaks of faith without being preachy, instead asking the reader to think deeper on what we’ve been told by different religions over the years and to consider different perspectives. It leaves room for the existence of God and science together.
I found the nature facts of this book fascinating and loved seeing things through the eyes of Lusa and Deanna, who only saw the magic and wonder of the world around them and strove to share that worldview with others. While there is quite a lot of procreation going on, it’s mostly covered in a scientific way as it pertains to the insects and animals inhabiting this part of the world.
Mostly, I loved that it speaks to the beauty of allowing things to live as they are, unbothered, and let nature take its course. There is so much to learn from this book and parallels to draw to everyday life and perceptions. Such a beautiful book.
Until next time,
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