Flight Behavior was published by HarperCollins in 2012. Dellarobia Turnbow, a restless young mother trapped in a failing marriage on her in-laws’ sheep farm in rural Tennessee, climbs the mountain behind the farm intending to meet a man for an affair — and instead finds something impossible. The trees on the mountain are covered with monarch butterflies — millions of them, a sight so overwhelming she takes it for a vision of fire.
The butterflies have deviated from their traditional migration route to central Mexico. Climate change has disrupted the navigational signals they rely on. Their presence on the Turnbow property becomes national news, drawing scientists, media, environmentalists, and profiteers. Dellarobia — intelligent, self-educated, and deeply frustrated by her limited life — becomes the public face of the phenomenon.
Kingsolver uses the displaced butterflies as both literal ecological crisis and metaphor for disruption: of migratory patterns, of Appalachian economic life, of Dellarobia’s marriage, of the comfortable distance between rural conservatives and environmental science. The novel is her most direct engagement with climate change and with the cultural politics that prevent American communities from acknowledging it.
Collecting Flight Behavior
First edition (HarperCollins, New York, 2012): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $15–$25
- Signed first: $30–$60