Barbara’s Pick
September 2019
Unsheltered
Barbara Kingsolver
Here’s a little plug for a possibly unknown collection of books: the Lucky Day books. I happened to look around the circulation desk as I was checking out and noticed Unsheltered. Since I’m a big fan of Kingsolver, I added it to my selections.
The novel is set in the 2016 election cycle. Kingsolver introduces us to relatable characters: a long-married couple, Willa and Iano; his father, Nick, a vocal conservative who is living with them because of poor health; and their children, Zeke and Tig, who have landed back in the
parental nest for very different reasons.
In a stroke of bad luck, Willa has not only lost her job as a magazine writer, but the house she has inherited from her aunt is literally falling down around her. Her husband, a professor, gained tenure from only one university, and it closed. So here Willa and Iano find themselves with no
retirement and minimal services available because they make a bit too much money—as well as being part of the sandwich generation, with demands from both young and old.
In a parallel story, we see there is a second set of characters from the 1800s, who lived in the house just after the foundation-less additions of the title were made: Thatcher Greenwood, a teacher; his wife and her mother and sister; and his unconventional neighbor, Mary Treat, a scientist who corresponds with Charles Darwin.
Kingsolver has yet again given us a compulsively readable, relatable story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.