Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver reimagines and recaptures the soul and spirit of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield in her breathtaking new novel set in modern Southern Appalachia, USA. Damon (quickly nicknamed Demon) was never destined to live an easy life. Born to a single teenaged mother who lives in a trailer park with her abusive older boyfriend, he is only equipped with a few weapons in life: his dead father’s good looks, his devilish charm and a knack for survival. As the reader, you are constantly in awe as you watch Demon brave the dangers of foster care, child labour, drug addiction during an opioid epidemic, poverty and starvation.

Because of his rough childhood, Demon has had to grow up quicker to survive. His view of the world is more jaded than the other children around him, and his brain is sharpened with lightning-speed cunning and wit. But it is admirable seeing how his heart has not hardened, softening for the friends he makes, the sweethearts he falls for, and the strangers he meets along the way who unexpectedly help banish the demons in his life.

Demon’s story is plagued with tragedies, some scenes so unbearably sad and harrowing one cannot imagine how someone as young as he could keep going. But he talks through his experiences to the reader in a conversational manner, bringing a mischievous magnetism and wily sense of humour that warms your heart and imprints the character in your brain long after putting down the book. He is a hero worth rooting for.

Dickens called David Copperfield his ‘favourite child’, and I personally believe that he would have been proud to see Kingsolver’s unforgettable epic, and perhaps would have even called it his ‘favourite grandchild’. It is a wondrous coming-of-age story worthy of comparison to its inspiration.