The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 5 stars

[Sue]

This was a re-read for me. Always risky to re-read a favorite, but I still absolutely love this book!

A missionary family moves to a small village in the Belgian Congo, shortly before that country won independence in 1960.

Nathan Price is a fanatical Baptist missionary, and his family consists of his wife and four daughters.

They arrive with no training in the culture or language, and without the support of an official mission. The results are disastrous to every member of the family.

The book is told from the point of view of each of the women in the family. Never from Nathan Price's pov, but his state of mind comes through clearly enough.

Overall a very strong indictment of the sort of missionaries who come to impose western culture vs actually interact with the population they've been sent to serve. Also constantly in the background, the disastrous results of western intervention in African countries.