Written by American author Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer (released in 2000) tells the story of a small town in Appalachia (the United States) and the various people who inhabit it. Particularly, it tells three separate - but connected - stories of the power of human kindness and love despite rather harsh and economically depressed conditions they live in.
One woman, named Deanna Wolfe, is a biologist who is caught off-guard by a very young hunter who comes into her life. Another, called Lusa Maluf Landowski, hasto make a very difficult decision which will affect her life for years. Finally, the narrative tells the story of an elderly couple who feuds with their neighbors about a number of things - including God and pesticides.
When it was released, Prodigal Summer received very positive reviews. Says The Guardian, which loved the book: "Often funny, and only occasionally teetering into schmaltz with the elderly couple, Prodigal Summer is a rich and compulsive read. Its acute and sensuous observation of the natural world reveals an unexpected beauty, as it traces human love in the flight of a luna moth." Publisher's Weekly also liked the book, saying that "If Kingsolver is sometimes too blatant in creating diametrically opposed characters and paradoxical inconsistencies, readers will be seduced by her effortless prose, her subtle use of Appalachian patois."
