"Clever. . . magical. . . beautifully crafted. Kingsolver spins you around the philosophic world a dozen times." —  Milwaukee Sentinel "Kingsolver's essays should be savored like quiet afternoons with a friend." — New York Times Book Review In this brilliant essay collection, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver turns to her favored literary terrain to explore themes of family, community, and the natural world. With the eyes of a scientist and the vision of a poet, Kingsolver writes about notions as diverse as modern motherhood, the history of private property, and the suspended citizenship of humans in the animal kingdom. Kingsolver's canny pursuit of meaning from an inscrutable world compels us to find instructions for life in surprising places: a museum of atomic bomb relics, a West African voodoo love charm, an iconographic family of paper dolls, the ethics of a wild pig who persistently invades a garden, a battle of wills with a two-year-old, or a troop of oysters who observe high tide in the middle of Illinois. In sharing her thoughts about the urgent business of being alive, Kingsolver the essayist employs the same keen eyes, persuasive tongue, and understanding heart that characterize her acclaimed fiction. In High Tide in Tucson, Kingsolver is defiant, funny, and courageously honest. "Whether cultural, personal, or theoretical, Kingsolver's nonfiction is a delight." - Seattle Times "A book full of discoveries." - Cleveland Plain Dealer “A delightful, challenging, and wonderfully informative book.” - San Francisco Chronicle "Brilliant. . . lucid, well thought-out, and remarkably sensitive. Kingsolver's power will linger long after you've finished High Tide in Tucson ." - Kansas City Star "Clever. . . magical. . . beautifully crafted. Kingsolver spins you around the philosophic world a dozen times." - Milwaukee Sentinel "Kingsolver's essays should be savored like quiet afternoons with a friend. . . . [She] speaks in a language rich with music and replete with good sense." - New York Times Book Review "Kingsolver possesses the rare ability to see the natural world with the keenness of both the poet and the naturalist." - Washington Times "The acclaimed novelist's extraordinary powers of observations and understanding of character serve her beautifully in this collection of essays." - Entertainment Weekly "There is no one quite like Barbara Kingsolver in contemporary literature," raves the Washington Post Book World, and it is right. She has been nominated three times for the ABBY award, and her critically acclaimed writings consistently enjoy spectacular commercial success as they entertain and touch her legions of loyal fans. In High Tide in Tucson, she returnsto her familiar themes of family, community, the common good and the natural world. The title essay considers Buster, a hermit crab that accidentally stows away on Kingsolver's return trip from the Bahamas to her desert home, and turns out to have manic-depressive tendencies. Buster is running around for all he's worth -- one can only presume it's high tide in Tucson. Kingsolver brings a moral vision and refreshing sense of humor to subjects ranging from modern motherhood to the history of private property to the suspended citizenship of human beings in the Animal Kingdom. Beautifully packaged, with original illustrations by well-known illustrator Paul Mirocha, these wise lessons on the urgent business of being alive make it a perfect gift for Kingsolver's many fans. Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered , The Bean Trees , and The Poisonwood Bible , as well as books of poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and Coyote’s Wild Home , a children’s book co-authored with Lily Kingsolver. She also collaborated with family members on the influential Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life . Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has earned a devoted readership at home and abroad. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has received numerous awards and honors including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, Demon Copperhead , the National Humanities Medal, and most recently, the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia. High Tide in Tucson Essays from Now or Never By Kingsolver, Barbara Perennial Copyright © 2004 Barbara Kingsolver All right reserved. ISBN: 0060927569 High Tide in Tucson A hermit crab lives in my house. Here in the desert he's hiding out from local animal ordinances, at minimum, and maybe even the international laws of native-species transport. For sure, he's an outlaw against nature. So be it. He arrived as a stowaway two Octobers ago. I had spent a week in the Bahamas, and while I was there, wishing my daughter could see those s