The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
★ Top 25 book of 1998 · #13 on Best Books of 1998
A wife and her four daughters narrate how their fierce, evangelical Baptist husband and father uproots them to the Belgian Congo in 1959. Over three decades, their family is undone and then slowly rebuilt.
Best for: Readers of epic family sagas set in postcolonial Africa
The Poisonwood Bible is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 1998, out of 36 1998 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Poisonwood Bible is about
In 1959 the Price family leaves Georgia for the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo. Nathan, the father, is a fierce evangelical Baptist missionary, and he brings his wife Orleanna and their four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May, into a world that does not bend to his certainty. Even his demonstration garden struggles in the climate.
Orleanna opens the story, and the daughters then take turns telling it, each seeing the same events differently. Set against the political turmoil of the Congo in the 1960s, the family faces cultural misunderstanding, faith pushed to fanaticism and the weight of guilt. The title comes from Nathan's mispronunciation of a Kikongo phrase. Barbara Kingsolver writes in a sweeping, lyrical style that rewards patient readers who like family sagas with moral questions at their core.
The Poisonwood Bible on the Best Books of 1998
The Poisonwood Bible came out in 1998. Of the 36 books first published in 1998 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #13 on our Best Books of 1998 list.
Why it made the list: 251 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (31 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1998 list
- Rainbow Six Tom Clancy, #11
- Skellig David Almond, #12
- Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, #14
- A Beautiful Mind Sylvia Nasar, #15
See all Best Books of 1998 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1997 Best Books of 1999.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 198 want to read it, 3 are reading it now and 50 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 31 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 58 | 55% |
| Reader love | 81 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 3 | 20% |
Questions about The Poisonwood Bible
When was The Poisonwood Bible published?
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver was first published in 1998.
Was The Poisonwood Bible one of the best books of 1998?
The Poisonwood Bible is #13 on BookWard's Best Books of 1998, out of 36 1998 books that cleared our data bar. 251 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (31 ratings).
Why is The Poisonwood Bible on the Best Books of 1998 list?
251 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (31 ratings).
More of the best books of 1998
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J. K. Rowling, #1
- Holes Louis Sachar, #2
- A Clash of Kings George R. R. Martin, #3
- Bag of Bones Stephen King, #4
- Among the Hidden Margaret Peterson Haddix, #5
- Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson, #6
See the full Best Books of 1998, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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