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Barbara Kingsolver is known for creating strong and utterly convincing female characters, for her insight into human relationships, and for the social conscience with which she infuses her work. In The Poisonwood Bible, she brings all of these themes and all of her skills to bear in epic fashion. The novel chronicles 30 years in the lives of the Price family: a wife and four daughters transplanted to the Belgian Congo in 1959—on the eve of its war for independence—by husband and father Nathan, a Baptist missionary. Nathan is abusive and unyielding, and neither the vegetable garden nor the brand of Christianity he has brought from Georgia is able to take root in the Congolese soil. As the Price women take turns telling the story, we watch the family crack and then shatter. In the end, its members must pick up the pieces and come to their individual terms with Africa ... even as Africa must somehow deal with the bitter legacy of all that the various Prices represent.
Watch the program [requires RealPlayer®].
Viewer’s response from a son of missionaries who served in the Congo
Card catalog entry from the Library of Congress
Blurb from the book jacket
Reading group guide from HarperCollins
Amazon.com information page
Barnes and Noble information page
Oprah’s Book Club featured The Poisonwood Bible in October 2000.
Lessons from The Poisonwood Bible for Father’s Day—a sermon by Dr. Robert Chance, pastor of Aspen Hill (MD) Christian Church
The Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) Page has links to lots of information about the country.
Lumumba: Historical Background, developed to accompany the Raoul Peck film about the assassinated Congolese prime minister, includes a biography and chronology.
Poems by Patrice Lumumba
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