Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - hardcover by Harper (2022), paperback by Harper Perennial (2024). A 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner, with additional awards and widespread acclaim.

Inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, this story follows a similar thematic arc: a youth’s journey from birth through adolescence to young adulthood. The main character, Damon Fields (AKA Demon Copperhead), is born to a single, widowed teenage mother in dirt-poor Lee County, Virginia, in the heart of Appalachia. Growing up without parents and with only a few friends and supportive neighbors, Demon still faces a series of foster homes, discouraging and dangerous experiences, and the ever-present drugs that seem to lubricate the machinery of youth activities in that neck of the woods.

I believe Kingsolver’s purpose in writing this story is to shed light on the problem of drugs in the lives of young people and to emphasize the role of poverty and limited opportunity in an environment that, by its nature, restricts one’s ability to share in the bounty found elsewhere, which seems out of reach. Appalachia seems stuck in a place that still struggles to easily join the rest of American culture and the economy.

Demon is a special kind of person because he is naturally resilient in his daily struggle with the challenges he faces. At several points, he seems ready to throw in the towel, but a few uplifting experiences keep him going. The story flows smoothly. The plot is realistic and believable, and the characters are colorful and interesting. Kingsolver demonstrates mastery of her craft across all 64 chapters (546 pages in the paperback edition). I enjoyed reading this story and found myself rooting for this young man, who could be a brother or son to any one of us if we had been raised in the environment he found himself in.