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Flight Behavior  By  cover art

Flight Behavior

By: Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
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Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

Indie best seller

Barnes & Noble best seller

National best seller

Amazon Best Book of the Month

Indie Next Pick

Best book of the year: New York Times Notable, Washington Post Notable, Amazon Editor’s Choice, USA Today’s Top Ten (#1), St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star

Prize-winning author: Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award), Orange Prize for Fiction

Prize-winning author: National Humanities Medal, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Orange Prize for Fiction, Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award)

"Kingsolver is a gifted magician of words." (Time)

The extraordinary New York Times best-selling author of The Lacuna (winner of the Orange Prize), The Poisonwood Bible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver returns with a truly stunning and unforgettable work.

Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians - trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world.

Flight Behavior is arguably Kingsolver's most thrilling and accessible novel to date, and like so many other of her acclaimed works, represents contemporary American fiction at its finest.

©2012 Barbara Kingsolver (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Featured Article: The 20 Best Audiobooks Read by the Author


There’s an undeniable authenticity in a listen that’s told by the very person who penned it. From iconic memoirs to far-out fantasies, these immersive audio performances are uniquely genuine, all performed in the author’s own voice. If you want to experience how special it can be to listen to a narrative exactly the way it was intended, check out our list of the 20 best audiobooks read by their authors.

What listeners say about Flight Behavior

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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

I love how she weaves environment facts into a story

I haven’t found another like Barbara Kingsolver who can weave a vivid tale and teach about the environment and humanity all in one story. I am reading this during our lockdown which I has been largely caused by how humans have so polluted ourselves and the earth, it helped me pass some time. Right now, I need to be taken away and forget about truths because it hurts so much to look at the world it’s come to. I recommend the book as a diversion also mixed with reality.

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The beginning had me worried ~ but LOVE for this ensued

A wonderful story. Can’t wait for my daughters to listen. This one will stay with me.

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Quintessential Kingsolver

It's always a great experience reading a Kingsolver book. Although Poisonwood Bible remains my favorite, Flight Behavior was a great read and what a treat for Kingsolver to be the reader. The content and story line were engaging, informative and moving. Her research and presentation of the issues are so in depth and yet easy to digest. And her representation of the conflicts inherent between science, economics and cultural bias reminds us that getting on track environmentally is a complex thing.

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Amazing!

Read by the author, I was a little nervous about the narration, but Barbara Kingsolver has an amazing story and tells it very well! Her take on global warming is well worth listening to and heeding. I think she wrote it mostly for the deniers. Here’s to hoping they will pay attention. Our Mother Earth depends on us to act like it’s an emergency—twenty-plus years ago! Again, a good telling of life in the US for an ordinary, working-class family just trying to make their way. Seen through their eyes, the future of everything takes on new urgency and perspective.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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I could listen to Barbara's all day and I did!

If you could sum up Flight Behavior in three words, what would they be?

A lecture about the environment couched in character development.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The narration is poetic and there were some very sweet moments in the story.

Any additional comments?

If you haven't listened to Barbara Kingsolver before then I recommend listening to the Prodigal Summer instead. I may go back and listen to this story again. It left an impression on me but I need to listen again to pin it down.

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Good book for Kingsolver fans

What made the experience of listening to Flight Behavior the most enjoyable?

This is a story that lives on its own but also gets its message across. It tells of the growth and rebirth of one woman as she comes to understand the much larger phenomenon she discovers in her own back yard.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dellarobia is the vessel through which we see a small world become magical and then complex and troubled. Just as the butterflies she finds struggle to survive, she struggles to do something more than just survive. She is delightfully real - selfish and self-sacrificing, irritating and funny, ignorant and smart as a whip. Kingsolver teaches a class here on how to draw a living, breathing Southern spitfire.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Barbara Kingsolver?

Yes, although I think the audiobook would have been even better with a professional narrator.

Any additional comments?

Kingsolver fans will know that her endings are usually the weakest parts of her books. This book is well worth that small disappointment, however, She is a gem among modern authors.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved the depth in characters!

Loved the characters in this book, they felt like people I would know and meet.

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Interesting read

Interesting perspective; quite believable but wouldn't recommend listening to audiobook; disconcertingly poor accents used especially for that of doctor from Virgin Islands; some poorly tied loose ends of story. Kept my interest though.

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captivating

As usual, Barbara Kingsolver weaves an interesting tale with believable characters and plenty of detail to get lost in their lives.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Word Craft With a Heavy Dose of Agenda

I LOVE Kingsolver's skill as a writer. I don't appreciate being banged over the head by her agenda.

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