Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Collins, 1993) ***

If you like Bean Trees, then you might want to also read Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven (1993), and follow the adventures of Taylor and Turtle (now six years old) when they eventually return to their roots in Kentucky and Oklahoma. A young Cherokee lawyer has questioned the validity of Turtle's 'adoption' because of laws requiring sanctioning by the Cherokee tribe. Now Taylor and her adopted child must confront the complications of how Turtle came to be part of Taylor's family and the meaning of what it is to be a Native American in the late twentieth century.