I really enjoy Barbara Kingsolver's books, but I didn't start reading her until I fell in love with Prodigal Summer, published in 2000. I've read most of what she's published since then, which means I have all her early stuff to read. I started on the backlist with The Bean Trees, published in 1988, and it was fantastic!
Here's the GoodReads synopsis:
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.
As with most synopses, you get the plot but not the heart and the heart (and writing) are what makes this novel sing. Taylor is a very young woman, but she shoulders the responsibility of caring for an abused baby that is literally thrust upon her. She figures out how to feed, clothe, soothe, and protect this child, and in the process gains a supportive network of friends and allies who become family.
In some ways, the story is dated--of course, there are no cell phones, Amazon, smart watches, and all the other trappings of life in the 21st century--but the themes and stories are timeless. The subplot of Estevan and Esperanza, refugees from Guatemala who fled for their lives, leaving behind their kidnapped and probably murdered daughter, is particularly relevant these days.
The bean trees of the title are wisteria trees--their seed pods look like green beans. Turtle, Taylor's adopted daughter, has a mania for plants, especially vegetables, and she renamed the wisteria "bean trees." Cute, right?!
Fun Fact (and speaking of cute): I found Turtle's favorite book, Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House. Urban gardening without a rooftop garden plot. I may just have to get a copy for my gardening bookshelf!
