Demon Copperhead

After visiting Charles Dickens’s home in Kent, England, Barbara Kingsolver was so inspired by the authors “impassioned critique of institutional poverty” she decided to frame a contemporary American problem in a similar style. Her novel is just as eye-opening about the US opioid epidemic as Dickens’s stories were for Victorian readers.

Set in a poor county in southern Appalachia during the nascent opioid epidemic, Demon Copperhead deals with the large question of who is to blame for the crisis. Demon is born into a world of poverty and addiction, and the novel follows his coming-of-age and his struggles as he works to overcome the difficulties life throws at him. It's brutal and honest. Kingsolver looks unflinchingly at the institutional structures that ruin lives, corrupt children, addict adults, and send communities into cycles of ruin.

“I thought my life couldn’t get any worse,” he says. “Here’s some advice: Don’t ever think that.” He’s 10 years old.

Kingsolver’s deep admiration for Dickens shines throughout the novel. Demon compliments Dickens directly, saying “Christ Jesus did he get the picture on kids and orphans getting screwed over and nobody giving a rat’s ass. You’d think he was from around here.” In her acknowledgements, Kingsolver expresses her gratitude to Dickens for writing this “impassioned critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children in his society… [I]n adapting his novel to my own place and time… I’ve come to think of him as my genius friend.”

First I got myself born

Demon Copperhead — his first name a play on “Damon,” his last name a nod to the red hair inherited from his father — has a lot of troubles. As he puts it, his mother had already been in Alcoholics Anonymous for three years before she reached legal drinking age. “Copperheads” are also venomous pit-vipers native to Appalachia. These nicknames suit a narrator/protagonist with a colloquial, frank, irreverent voice, who is more Huck Finn than David Copperfield.

The engaging young narrator goes through versions of Dickens’s major plot points, but Kingsolver took the plot and characters and made them her own. Written in first person from Demon's point of view, Kingsolver jumps right into the action and the story flows for the next 500+ pages.

In Dickens’s novel, David’s troubles begin when his mother marries Mr. Murdstone; similarly, Demon’s life takes a downturn after his mom meets Murrell Stone, or "Stoner", in Walmart. At first his job as truck-driver for a brewing company (with medical and dental coverage for Demon and his mother!) seems great, but he turns out to be an abusive bully. He forbids Demon to contact his best friend, Matt "Maggot" Peggot, claiming the boy is a bad influence because he’s a “little faggot” with a jailbird mother. Stoner’s cruelty drives Demon’s mother back to drugs and ultimately to a fatal overdose.

Sometimes the storyline can feel repetitive, in which Demon escapes some form of torturous supervision just to get trapped in another. However, this torrent of misery is an effective way to emphasize the many obstacles that the people of Appalachia faced during the opioid crisis: a relentless stream of misfortune that seems inescapable. The exquisite writing takes a wrenching story and makes it relatable. The details are difficult, but they are never gratuitous.

While the novel focuses on Demon, it also highlights the strong women who shape his life. Despite his mother’s addiction negatively impacting Demon, her love remains a constant in his life. Other influential female figures include Mrs. Peggot, his elderly neighbor who helps care for him when his mother is distracted, and June, another Peggot relative who becomes a guiding light in Demon’s life after he succumbs to addiction.

Kingsolver portrays the Peggot women as embodiments of resilience and kindness amidst the crisis. Angus, Demon’s foster sister, stands out as a character who defies both Appalachian and female stereotypes and is one of the few who truly recognizes Demon’s struggles. Kingsolver’s strong female characters illustrate the intense struggles that women face during the opioid crisis, often having to care for others while battling their own dangers of addiction.

Hit this

The novel draws parallels between contemporary issues in Appalachia and the way Charles Dickens brought the struggles of the downtrodden into public consciousness in the 20^th century with David Copperfield. Kingsolver, who grew up in Kentucky and currently lives in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, witnessed the effects of the opioid crisis firsthand. She gives this community an authentic voice that brings warmth, humor, and dignity to the characters.

To understand an addict’s experience, Kingsolver contacted Art Van Zee, the Virginia physician who sounded an early alarm about the dangers of OxyContin and now treats recovering addicts. Van Zee connected her with his patients, whose stories find their way into Demon’s. They taught Kingsolver what it feels like to be dopesick, detailed the mechanics of the drug — how to shoot it up or inhale its vapor — and shared the heartbreaking economics, from pill mills to trap houses and prostitution.

“Every single one of these informants started with a legal prescription following doctor’s orders” said Kingsolver.

The story also challenges stereotypes of rural Americans. Demon frequently remarks that city people don’t understand Appalachian life. He begins to see how his community has been systematically ignored during the crisis and how opioids were recklessly peddled to vulnerable community members. Demon survives despite the systems that worked against him but acknowledges that many others were not as fortunate. Kingsolver reveals the humanity behind the statistics of the crisis and the stereotypes that prevented help from reaching the places that needed it most.

Overall, the novel has the potential to open the eyes of many Americans who have been sheltered from the opioid crisis, whether they were oblivious to its toll on rural areas or are too young to remember its significance and the scars it has inflicted on some of the country’s most defenseless groups. The dreary subject matter will not be for everyone, and those afraid of lengthy novels may be intimidated, but “Demon Copperhead” is an odyssey not to be missed. It highlights the resilience and strength that can emerge from some of the world’s darkest places and reminds us not to ignore or belittle those who have grown up in a world that works against them.

Higher ground

As soon as the novel was released, Kingsolver resolved to find a tangible way to help people whose lives have been upended by addiction. The biggest need, she learned, was for support for people in recovery, who often had no housing or job prospects.

In a social media post this week, Kingsolver announced that she has founded a recovery house for women in Lee County, where the novel is set.

The center, “Higher Ground Women’s Recovery Residence,” will house between eight and 12 women recovering from drug addiction, offering them a place to stay, for a small fee, for up to two years, as well as counseling and other forms of support, like free community college classes.

The royalties earned from “Demon Copperhead” will fund the center and recovery programs for people battling addiction.

About the author

Barbara Kingsolver is a novelist, essayist, and poet. Her eighteen books include the bestselling novels Unsheltered, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as the influential nonfiction book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 2024 National Book Awards.

Kingsolver's books have been translated into more than thirty languages and adopted into the core literature curriculum in high schools and colleges throughout the nation. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia.