The Bean Trees: A Novel

"The Bean Trees is the work of a visionary. . . . It leaves you open-mouthed and smiling." -- Los Angeles Times

A bestseller that has come to be regarded as an American classic, The Bean Trees is the novel that launched Barbara Kingsolver's remarkable literary career.

It is the charming, engrossing tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer, who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a three-year-old Native American girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in seemingly empty places.

This edition includes a P.S. section with additional insights from the author, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.

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272 pages

Average rating: 7.76

70 RATINGS

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3 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

E Clou
May 10, 2023
8/10 stars
I love this compact book about the sustaining love of friendship, the difficulty (and beauty) of empathy for the whole world, and the difficulty going on, and finding the hope to do so.

I also loved how set this story is in time and space. It feels like the 70s, and you can see the beauty and dangers of Arizona and Oklahoma in the narrative.
Noodle
Dec 02, 2022
9/10 stars
Coming of age traveling young woman from Kentucky ending her travels in AZ where majority of the book takes place. This was such an adventure to read. If you love a good and strong girl protagonist you’ll love this. It tackles the resiliency of children, feminism, the need for community when facing hardships, and politics of the time. It was written in the 80s and a little of the language shows, but it’s still great at pointing out the sexis...read more
sonoma_g
Jun 22, 2021
read it a long time ago in my freshman year of high school, but I’ll always remember it because to me it was a moving story I’ll definitely have to reread it sometime soon

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