This Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition features a special cover, French flaps, deckled edges and an essay from Barbara Kingsolver about how a night spent at the seaside home where Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield inspired the direction for Demon Copperhead.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE •
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
A
New York Times
"Ten Best Books of the Year" • An Oprah’s Book Club Selection • An Instant
Bestseller • An Instant
Wall Street Journal
Bestseller •
A #1
Washington Post
Bestseller
"Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.” —Beth Macy, author of
Dopesick
"May be the best novel of [the year]. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” (Ron Charles,
)
From the acclaimed author of
The Poisonwood Bible
and
The Bean Trees,
a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturity
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia,
Demon Copperhead
is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote
David Copperfield
from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story.
speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.