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NPR's Book of the Day

Novels by Barbara Kingsolver and Daniel Mason excavate history for new meanings

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2671 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today's episode is all about two books that find parallels across long stretches of time. First, an interview with Barbara Kingsolver and former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about Kingsolver's novel Unsheltered, which finds striking similarities between an 18th century "utopian" community and 2016 America. Then, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Daniel Mason about his new novel North Woods, which follows the inhabitants of a plot of land across hundreds of years.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. All right, I'm sorry to be a nerd that, like, quotes William Faulkner, but while listening to today's interviews, I did have that one line of his in my head. That's maybe overplayed, but still, you know, it's the one that goes, the past is never dead. It's not even past, because both books today tell stories that take

0:21.9

place throughout these long stretches of time. In a bit, we'll hear from Daniel Mason, who's got

0:26.9

this wildly ambitious novel that Kirk is called multitudinous and magical in its review.

0:33.1

But first, an interview from a couple years ago with Barbara Kingsolver. Before her Pulitzer

0:37.2

Prize-winning novel, Demon Copperhead, she wrote a book called Unsheltered,

0:41.3

and it uses the Civil War to look at post-Trump America.

0:44.6

But she tells former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that the book isn't about leaders.

0:49.5

It's instead about people's willingness to be led.

0:53.9

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0:58.3

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1:04.3

Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com.

1:07.8

Tease and Cs apply.

1:09.5

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

1:14.2

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

1:18.8

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

1:20.8

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

1:24.6

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

1:28.4

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:33.9

Barbara Kingsolver is the best-selling author of the Poisonwood Bible and the Lacuna.

1:38.7

After six years, she has a new novel which tackles the divisions in America that have been around for a long time

1:45.1

and remain unhealed. The book is called Unsheltered and she joins us now from W.E.H.C. in

1:50.8

Emory, Virginia. It is my great pleasure to have you on the program. Thanks. This book is done in

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