The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver is my current favorite author, so I am reading my way through all her books. This was her first. I am reading her work all out of order; this one precedes Pigs in Heaven, which I read this summer. No matter, as both novels stand alone as stories unto themselves. This one is from Taylor's point of view, Pigs is from her mom's. Both inform, through story, about the Cherokee people and their place in the social fabric of America. There's something very magical about Kingsolver's work. Her characters are compelling, her stories are moving, but also she makes an attempt to connect us with the natural world, thorough the characters and the story.