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Pigs in Heaven | Introduction

When Pigs in Heaven was published m 1993, Barbara Kingsolver was already a well-established and successful author. Her third novel garnered critical and popular success and earned her a nomination for an ABBY award, the American Library Association award, the Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize, and the Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Fiction Award. As in many of her other works, Pigs in Heaven focuses on the complexities of families, relationships, and communities.

In this novel, the protagonist, Taylor Greer, finds herself embroiled in a custody battle with the Cherokee Nation over her adopted Cherokee daughter named Turtle. As she struggles to keep her daughter and at the same time provide a nurturing and safe environment, Taylor is forced to re-examine and redefine her views on family and community. During the course of the story, Kingsolver introduces the issues of single motherhood, adoption, abuse, ethnic identity, and poverty. Her intermingling of politics and human drama results in a satisfying tale of love and understanding. Reviewers applaud the novel's realistic and compelling characters, its topical themes, and her insight into the complex inner workings of the human heart.

Pigs in Heaven Summary

Part I: Spring
The novel opens in Kentucky with Alice, Taylor's mother, considering leaving her couch-potato husband, Harland. She acknowledges that "he's a good enough man." but that the marriage "has failed to warm her," and besides, "women on their own run in Alice's family." The narrative then shifts its focus to Taylor and Turtle and their trip to Hoover Dam. Taylor had found Turtle in her car three years ago and adopted her. The two live in Tucson with Taylor's boyfriend, Jax, a keyboard player in a band called the Irascible Babies. While at the Dam, Turtle sees Lucky Buster, a middle-aged retarded man, fall into a spillway. Turtle informs her mother and they are able to summon help for Lucky.

After Lucky is rescued, the story is splashed across newspaper headlines and Taylor and Turtle end up on the Oprah show as part of a program called "Children Who Have Saved Lives." An-nawake Fourkiller. a lawyer for the Cherokee Nation, watches the show and hears the story of Turtle's abandonment and subsequent adoption. Annawake decides that Turtle's adoption is illegal according to the Indian Child Welfare Act, which guarantees that a Native American chiid cannot be adopted without tribal permission. As a result, she begins to make a case for vacating Turtle's improperly conducted adoption and then finding "a proper placement" for her, where she will learn about her heritage. Soon after, Annawake arrives in Tucson to discuss Turtle's adoption with Taylor. Their conversation so alarms Tayior that she grabs Turtle and a few belongings and flees, leaving Jax.

Part II: Summer
This section opens with Cash Stillwater, who bags groceries at a health... ยป Complete Pigs in Heaven Summary