The Bean Trees

This is my favorite Barbara Kingsolver novel, and I really liked the sequel Pigs in Heaven. In The Bean Trees the reader follows Taylor Greer, a young woman who has saved enough money to escape her conditions in rural Kentucky and heads for Phoenix, Arizona. She has an unexpected event along the way which includes "adopting" a young Cherokee girl she names Turtle. The story is sweet and original and difficult as we watch Taylor take on issues that are above her age-but maybe not maturity-level.