''Unsheltered'' is a 2018

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the Univers ...

published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. It follows two families living in the same house at two separate time periods in

Vineland, New Jersey Vineland is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 60,780. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 61,156 ...

. The novel alternates between the 21st century and the 19th century, using the last words of one chapter as the title of the next one. One family lived in the house in the 1800s and the other family resides in the house in the aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

Plot

Major characters

21st century: * Willa Knox – journalist * Iano Tavoularis – PhD in political science, her husband * Tig (Antigone) – Willa and Iano's daughter * Zeke – Willa and Iano's son * Nick – Iano's irascible father * Dixie – the dog * Helene – Zeke's girlfriend, who committed suicide * Aldus (Dusty) – Zeke and Helene's infant son * Athena, Lita, and Irini – Iano's sisters * Christopher Hawk – museum curator * Jorge – Neighbor boy, Tig's boyfriend 19th century (some modelled on real persons): * Thatcher Greenwood – BS in Biology * Rose – his wife *

Mary Treat Mary Adelia Davis Treat (7 September 1830 in Trumansburg, New York – 11 April 1923 in Pembroke, New York) was a naturalist and correspondent with Charles Darwin. Treat's contributions to both botany and entomology were extensive—six speci ...

– neighbor (real-life naturalist, botanist, entomologist); next-door neighbor * Polly – Rose's sister * Aurelia – Rose's mother * Selma – Mary's servant girl/botany assistant * Captain Charles K. Landis – Vinland's founder, mayor and land agent * Professor Cutler – principal of school where Thatcher teaches; toady to Landis * Uri Carruth – editor of rival paper * Charybdis & Scylla – dogs of the Greenwood family

Reception and awards

The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics. Writing in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Meg Wolitzer Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southa ...

, says this book "lures us into" this story about a house and the two different families that occupy it during two different periods of time. Ilana Masad states in her

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

review that by the end of the novel "Kingsolver doesn't give us solutions, but she reminds us to take comfort in one another when we can, and that hope is necessary even when all seems lost." Benjamin Evans' review in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

notes, "Unlike the incompetent architect of the house in her latest book, ''Unsheltered'', American novelist Barbara Kingsolver has proved herself a supreme craftsperson over the past three decades. She possesses a knack for ingenious metaphors that encapsulate the social questions at the heart of her stories."

References

External links

"Unsheltered" at Barbara Kingsolver's authorized website
2018 American novels Novels set in New Jersey Vineland, New Jersey American historical novels Novels set in the 19th century HarperCollins books Novels by Barbara Kingsolver {{US-novel-stub