Unsheltered: A Novel

New York Times Bestseller and one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Newsweek, Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered is a powerful, time-spanning novel about survival, truth, and resilience when the world as we know it begins to crumble.

In the present day, Willa Knox has done everything right—raised a family, built a career—yet finds herself broke, jobless, and living in a collapsing inherited house with her husband, father-in-law, and grown children, all struggling to find hope amid failure.

In the 19th century, Thatcher Greenwood, a science teacher inspired by Charles Darwin’s discoveries, faces professional ruin and social scorn for speaking the truth in a town that prizes appearances over progress.

As their stories intertwine across centuries, Unsheltered becomes a profound meditation on change, belief, and the courage to rebuild, revealing how compassion and integrity endure even when the foundations of life fall away.