Description

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1999 ed.)

Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible is an epic, emotionally powerful novel that explores faith, power, colonialism, and the far‑reaching consequences of cultural arrogance. Set in the Belgian Congo beginning in 1959, the story follows the Price family, evangelical missionaries from Georgia whose rigid beliefs collide with the political upheaval and lived realities of a country on the brink of independence.

Narrated through the alternating voices of Orleanna Price and her four daughters, the novel traces how each woman experiences life in Africa differently—revealing conflicts between devotion and doubt, obedience and resistance, innocence and awakening. At the center stands Nathan Price, the family’s domineering patriarch, whose refusal to adapt exposes the danger of moral certainty and unchecked authority.

As Congo moves toward revolution and the family’s mission unravels, Kingsolver examines the lasting damage of imperialism, religious absolutism, and silence. Lyrical, fierce, and deeply humane, The Poisonwood Bible is both a family saga and a sweeping moral reckoning, asking how responsibility endures long after belief has failed.

Copyright: Originally published in 1998. This paperback copy published by HaperPerennial in 1999 with cover art including “Oprah’s Book Club” and “NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER”.

Condition: Good. Used.

ISBN-10: 0060175400

ISBN-13: 9780060175405

Dewey Decimal: 813.54