The Bean Trees
1988
Enoch Pratt Library Youth Book Award
The Bean Trees is a book readers have taken to their hearts. It is now a standard in college literature classes across the nation and has been translated for a readership stretching from Japan to Romania.
When it was first published, however, its author was unknown. Word of mouth spread slowly among booksellers, librarians, critics and readers with a passion to share their favorite books. In The Bean Trees they found a spirited protagonist, Taylor Greer, who grew up in poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when Taylor heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time she arrives in Tucson, she has acquired a completely unexpected child and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.
Most readers of The Bean Trees discovered the novel in its paperback edition. On the 10th anniversary of its first publication, Harper Flamingo offered readers a special hardback edition, redesigned to be easy on the eyes and priced to be accessible to every lover of good fiction.
“The work of a visionary. . . . It leaves you open-mouthed and smiling.” - Los Angeles Times
“An astonishing literary debut....For a deep breath of fresh air, spend some time in the neighborhood of The Bean Trees.” - Cosmopolitan
“As clear as air. It is the southern novel taken west, its colors as translucent and polished as one of those slices of rose agate from a desert shop.” - New York Times Book Review
"Idealistic and exhilerating, The Bean Trees is a book that combines the most careful craft with a moral code that is loving and expansive." - Philadelphia Inquirer
“So wry and wise we wish it would never end....The chatty, down-home audacity of Barbara Kingsolver’s remarkable first novel hooks us on the first page.” - San Francisco Chronicle
“This funny, inspiring book is a marvelous affirmation of risk-taking, commitment and everyday miracles...An overwhelming delight, as random and unexpected as real life.” - Publishers Weekly