NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Kingsolver's “Demon Copperhead,” a modern retelling of Charles Dickens' “David Copperfield,” is Oprah Winfrey's new book club choice.
In a statement Tuesday, the release date for “Demon Copperhead,” Winfrey called Kingsolver's 560-page novel “the kind of epic you want to read this fall.” The book is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia and follows the life of a boy, born to a single, teenage mother, as he endures everything from foster care to drug addiction.
Kingsolver, 67, has lived for years on a farm in southern Appalachia, and has long blended narrative drama and social commentary. Her past novels include “The Bean Trees,” “Flight Behavior” and “The Poisonwood Bible,” a Winfrey selection in 2000. Her honors include a National Humanities Medal and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
“Getting that call from Oprah is the highest literary prize on the planet, if you ask me,” Kingsolver said in a statement. “Not just because of the powerful way she connects books and readers, but because of the reader she is, herself. I could barely hold it together when she described my own book to me on the phone — her appreciation of the craft, the empathy, and how it touched her personally.”
Winfrey will host an interactive gathering with Kingsolver and Oprah Daily Insiders on Nov. 17.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
