I generally like Kingsolver's writing and her insight into characters. This book has both lovely description and complicated interesting people, but it's marred by a preachy tone involving climate change. Global climate change is a worthy topic and deserves more discussion in the mainstream press--a point Kingsolver makes--but it came off a bit heavy handed as a plot device in this book. IMHO. Others might not find it so. My other complaint is with the ending. It seemed too pat. For those who've never read Kingsolver, read some of her earlier stuff first. For those who have read her, do check this out. I liked it, just not as much as some of her other work.