Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is a powerful, emotionally charged novel that reimagines Charles Dickens’ classic David Copperfield in the modern-day Appalachian South. Through the life of Demon, a boy born into poverty, addiction, and neglect, Kingsolver explores contemporary issues of social injustice, systemic poverty, and the opioid crisis, while retaining the heart and soul of Dickens’ original tale. The novel’s protagonist, Damon Fields—nicknamed “Demon Copperhead” for his fiery red hair—narrates his life from birth to adulthood. From the outset, Demon is dealt a harsh hand: born to a teenage single mother in a rundown trailer, with no father figure in sight, he must navigate a world rife with hardship. His mother’s struggles with addiction cast a shadow over his early years, and after her death, Demon is thrown into the unforgiving foster care system. What follows is a grim, often heart-wrenching, account of a child growing up in a society that seems designed to fail him...