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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
Physical abuse; some deaths; the violence of poverty and addiction
Language
Very heavy
Raw vernacular language throughout; Demon's voice is unfiltered
Sexual Content
Some
Some adult content; teen sexual experiences depicted in the novel's arc
Substance Use
Very heavy
Opioid addiction is the novel's entire subject; depicted in devastating, specific detail throughout
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
The extreme psychological destruction of addiction; the systematic failure of institutions; the accumulation of loss
What this book is about
Damon Fields, called Demon Copperhead for his red hair, is born to a teenage single mother in the mountains of southwest Virginia. His story follows the Dickensian arc—orphanhood, exploitation, near-destruction, and the hard-won possibility of survival—but transplanted into the opioid epidemic's devastation of Appalachian communities. Kingsolver's Pulitzer Prize winner is her angriest, most urgent novel: a portrait of a region deliberately targeted, a boy deliberately failed, and the rage that drives the best social fiction.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Opioid addiction depicted in graphic, devastating detail
Extreme language throughout
Child abuse and institutional neglect as central subjects
Reader Verification
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