Demon Copperhead : A Novel

WINNER OF THE 2023 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION

WINNER OF THE 2023 UK WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The bestselling masterpiece of contemporary American fiction—one of the Best Books of 2022—from the author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturity.

“Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

“May be the best novel of 2022. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post

Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenage single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing his epic novel to her own place and time, Kingsolver has enlisted his anger and compassion, and, above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story.

 Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.