Demon Copperhead

A masterpiece in storytelling from the global bestselling author of Unsheltered and Flight Behaviour.

**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE
THE MULTI-MILLION COPY SELLING AUTHOR
BOOK AT BEDTIME ON BBC RADIO 4
AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK
WITH OVER 18,000 5* REVIEWS

'Extraordinary.' OPRAH
'She means to save us by telling us stories. . . She comes closer than anyone else I know.' ANN PATCHETT
'Electrifying. . . Every sentence here sizzles.' Daily Mail
'It's EPIC. Righteously angry, DEEPLY moving and exquisitely written.' MARIAN KEYES
'A powerful tale.' *Good Housekeeping
*'A fantastic read.' EMILY MAITLIS
'A masterclass.' RICHARD POWERS

**Demon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can.

Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there.

Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.

'Legit about to get an 'I'd rather be reading Demon Copperhead' sticker for my Nissan Murano.' ROB DELANEY

**What readers are saying:

* 'An amazing, beautifully written story I cannot wait to recommend to everyone I know.'

* 'Powerful and brilliant. To immerse yourself in a Kingsolver novel is to put yourself in the hands of a master.'

* 'A must read and heart-opening book.'

* 'Raw, angry, starkly beautiful. . . Genuinely one of the best books I've ever read.'

* 'Amazingly complex. . . [Kingsolver] is, by far, one of the greatest living authors'

Auteur

Barbara Kingsolver

Texte du rabat

'First I got myself born. Like a little blue prizefighter.'

This is the tale of Demon Copperhead: our hero. A boy with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-coloured hair, bucket-loads of charm and a talent or two the world is yet to discover.

Born to a teenaged single mother in a single wide trailer, life is not set fair for Demon as he escorts us on this, his journey through the modern perils of foster care, athletic success and addiction, the dizzying highs of true love, and the crushing losses that can accompany it.

But Demon is a fighter, a survivor. Inspired by the unflinching truth-telling of David Copperfield, Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger, compassion and humour, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story told through an unforgettable cast of characters. Demon is the voice of a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind. It will break and mend your heart in the way only the best fiction can.