The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Prebound))

In 1959, the fervent Baptist missionary Nathan Price moves his wife and four daughters from their home in Georgia to the Belgian Congo. They carry with them American ideals and Christian faith, expecting to uplift the souls of a remote village. Instead, they find themselves in a world with its own complex traditions and beliefs, a place where the seeds they brought from home refuse to grow and their scripture is calamitously transformed on African soil. The story is told through the eyes of the five Price women as they navigate the unpredictable dangers of their new environment and the turbulent political climate of a nation on the brink of independence.

What unfolds is the suspenseful story of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa. Faced with personal betrayals and political upheaval, each woman must forge her own path to salvation in a world she can no longer recognize. The novel confronts the consequences of cultural arrogance and blind faith, exploring the profound ways a place can change a person and how a family must grapple with the guilt of their own part in the ruin of a nation.