11 June 2025
Having enjoyed 'Demon Copperhead' (reviewed here in March 2024), I have now read Barbara Kingsolver's 1988 novel 'The Bean Trees'. While 'Demon Copperhead' is clearly a retelling of 'David Copperfield', this much earlier novel demonstrates Barbara Kingsolver has always written Dickensian stories - with an extended cast of quirky, loveable characters. Her focus is on the realities of working class America - people struggling to find somewhere to live and something to eat whilst still managing to show kindness to strangers. The background story of an underground railway supporting asylum seekers from Guatemala feels sadly contemporary. Barbara Kingsolver writes brilliantly in the voices and dialects of ordinary people, and every page seems to contain poetic, quotable phrases.
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