The Poisonwood Bible

The book tells of an American missionary family in the Congo during a significant period in African history. Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist, takes his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959 for a missionary journey. They bring what they think they need from home, but garden seeds, the King James Bible, and much else change on African soil. The story is told by the five women and explores African history, religion, family, and the many paths to redemption.

Why You Should Read?

• Meet Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who leads his family into the Belgian Congo in 1959.
• Follow his wife and four daughters as they bring home beliefs and supplies to African soil.
• Discover how garden seeds and the King James Bible change in calamitous ways on African soil.
• Explore African history, religious faith, family bonds, and different roads to redemption through five women's voices.

About the Author

Barbara Kingsolver was born on April 8, 1955, and is an American writer of novels, essays, and poems. Her books include The Poisonwood Bible, about a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which describes her family trying to eat locally. She won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Demon Copperhead. Her subjects often include social justice, biodiversity, and how people relate to their communities and environments. At DePauw University and the University of Arizona, she studied biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Before writing novels, she worked as a freelance writer. She founded the Bellwether Prize in 2000, which supports writing for social change.