Pigs in Heaven was published by HarperCollins in 1993, a sequel to The Bean Trees that confronts the earlier novel’s premise. Taylor Greer adopted Turtle — a Cherokee child — informally and without legal process. Now Annawake Fourkiller, a Cherokee Nation lawyer, sees Taylor and Turtle on the Oprah Winfrey Show and recognizes that the adoption violated the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, which gives tribes jurisdiction over the adoption of their children.
Kingsolver structures the novel as a genuine moral dilemma: Taylor loves Turtle and has healed her from the trauma of abuse. But the Cherokee Nation’s claim is not merely legal — it is about the systematic removal of Native children from their communities, a practice that amounts to cultural genocide. The novel refuses to make either side the villain. Taylor flees with Turtle; Annawake pursues; and the resolution requires both sides to recognize what the other has at stake.
The novel was Kingsolver’s response to criticism that The Bean Trees too easily resolved the complexities of cross-cultural adoption. She spent years researching the Indian Child Welfare Act and consulting with Cherokee communities before writing the sequel.
Collecting Pigs in Heaven
First edition (HarperCollins, New York, 1993): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $20–$50
- Signed first: $50–$120