Prodigal Summer
Deanna, a wildlife biologist in her 40s who isolates herself in a cabin high in the mountains of southern Appalachia, defines a prodigal summer as the season of extravagant procreation. But she becomes distracted from her daily studies by Eddie, a young hunter who often stays overnight in her log cabin. They become sexually active, but he threatens Deanna's protection of natural predators, especially coyotes. The old adage, "You've got your rules, I got mine" is his only defense.
Below the mountains in the valley, Lusa, a city girl, lives in the original Widener house with her husband Cole Widener, yet she finds it difficult to be accepted by her new in-laws, whose farms are scattered over the rest of the Widener property. But after Cole is killed in an accident, Lusa, in her late 20s, is determined to keep the farm, whether her in-laws like it or not. She befriends Jewel, Cole's sister who is dying of cancer, by taking over her two children, whom the rest of the Widener families cannot handle. And Lusa hires Rickie, her 17 year old nephew-in-law who falls in love with her. She avoids his advances but agrees to go to a dance with him and if nothing else, "...paint the town red."
The third story of Prodigal Summer, a more humorous tale, is about Nannie Rawley, a single woman in her 70s, and Garnett Walker, a widower who is well into his 80s. She has an apple orchard that she is trying to protect from the chemical sprays Garnett seems to favor. Many years before, Nannie's illegitimate daughter had died young, and Garnett had disowned his only son, which at first seems to be their only similarity.
Kingsolver ends her novel revealing the relationships between her compelling characters, at the time when many farms in southern Appalachia were struggling to survive. But the underlying conflict of the story is based on women's attempt to preserve nature versus man's disregard of it.
Any reader of Prodigal Summer need not be a biologist in order to appreciate Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel, but it might help. This novel was published in 2000 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.