The Lacuna: A Novel

Written by Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by Barbara Kingsolver

New York Times Bestseller • A Best Book of the Year: New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, and Kansas City Star • Winner of the Orange Prize

“Breathtaking. . . dazzling.”  — New York Times Book Review

“Epic and deeply personal. . . . This is thought-provoking, and potentially thought-changing, historical fiction at its best.” — Dallas Morning News

In this powerfully imagined, provocative novel, Barbara Kingsolver, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters, takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is the poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as well as an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself.

Born in the United States, raised in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd lacks a sense of home in either. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen; from errands he runs in the streets; and, one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.

Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There, in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America’s hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.

With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Kingsolver has created a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Nov 3, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061967139

Barbara Kingsolver

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 and its Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.

Reviews for The Lacuna

[Susan Montgomery · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So descriptive; the characters really live so vividly. Amazing story!

[Giulia Romanelli Foster · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved how this book weaves fiction into history and the way it describes the tragic absurdities of post war America. I knew nothing about the book before reading it so it was a surprise to find out it goes inside the private home and life of the Mexican artists, who by the way are irresistibly portrayed.

[sbsolter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately I did not enjoy The Lacuna nearly as much as some of Barbara Kingsolver's other novels. It took me over a month to read it, which is much longer than typical for me (even for a book of this length). For the first half or so, I just wasn't really into it. I didn't feel any strong desire to pick it up and keep reading. In the second half, I became more engaged but it was still somewhat slow reading.

The novel tells the story of a man born in the early 1900s in the United States of Mexican and American parentage, who spends much of his youth in Mexican and eventually becomes employed by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and later by Leon Trotsky. Eventually he moves back to the US and becomes a writer, and the end of the novel takes place during the McCarthy era. The story is told in the form of the protagonist's personal journals and letters. At the beginning when he is young, the journals are all in a distant and third person voice, and I think this was part of why I didn't feel that engaged at the beginning. It didn't draw me in because it was so detached. Later when he is older his journals are more personal and it was easier to feel involved with the characters.

Even though I did not find it the most engaging book ever, I can appreciate that it is impeccably written. Kingsolver is a clear master of words and plot. She writes in a variety of convincing styles and tones and the plot is well-constructed and has an excellent, poignant ending that it sad but not unbearably so. I enjoyed her use of language and humor, and did find myself laughing aloud many times as I read.

This is a novel with a grand scope, much more along the lines of The Poisonwood Bible than Prodigal Summer, and I think it may be the case that I simply like her smaller-scoped works better. I am still glad I read it, and overall I do recommend it if it sounds at all interesting to you.

[Cody Hanford · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite authors. Kingsolver delivers an impressive novel about the past, but its themes feel right at home in the present. She’s also one of my favorite narrators, and her skills are on full display here

[dinelson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Harrison Shepherd, a Mexican-American, was raised by his Mexican mother who was always looking for a rich man to support her. They moved frequently and she paid little attention to Harrison. As a young man living in Mexico, he worked for Diego Rivera, his wife Frida Kahlo, and for Leo Trotsky. The book focuses on many important issues of the day such as Communism, workers’ rights, modern art, yellow journalism, the rise of media and homosexuality. The Lacuna is a long, ambitious book told almost exclusively through Shepherd's journal entries. The first half was difficult to read and moved slowly at times. For me, Shepherd was an elusive main character. I enjoyed the second half much more. Here, Shepherd returns to America and begins his career as a novelist. The voice of his secretary, Violet Brown, and their endearing relationship enhances this part of the story. The mysterious ending was satisfying, as well.

[Janet Hebbert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A masterful story, so beautifully written, and a real insight into the life of Trotsky, and of the anti-communism frenzy after WWII.

[twopairsofglasses · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mix mother love, Frida Kahlo, Trotsky, Mexico, and censorship during the McCarthy era. An amazing book.

[readerspeak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ambitious and slow are how I describe Kingsolver's newest book. The reader meets Harrison Shepherd early in his life when he lives in Mexico with his mother, a mistress to men who keep her shut away. Shepherd is a foreigner (American), a loner, terribly shy and yet needs to record life as it happens around him. His diaries and letters are the means to tell his story.Circumstances lead him to meet and work for Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Lev Trotsky. These minor characters are fully realized and memorable, and the closest Shepherd comes to friends until he meets Violet Brown who will become his personal typing assistant when his own writing makes him famous. Her warmth, vigor, and rural charm added heart to the otherwise measured story.I've read nearly all of Kingsolver's work, and I did like this one, but not enough to get excited about it. I would recommend it to those who like historical fiction, who are interested in art and modern American history.

[etroop22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most emotionally resonant and engaging books I've ever read. It fictionalizes the real trials and tragedies of a period of time that feels at times both distant and extremely relevant to the politics of today. And there's so much beauty in the details, especially the characters, real and invented. And I love the humor that exists throughout.

[donna828 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Words do matter! Kingsolver has created a memorable character in Harrison Shepherd who must write in order to find meaning in a bewildering world. The seldom-used word "lacuna" is used as a metaphor throughout the 500+ pages of this historical novel for a life riddled with sorrow and loss. "The most important part of a story is the piece of it you don't know" is a refrain that accompanies Harrison from his early writings through his success as an author of books about Mexico.Harrison fell in love with the exotic sounds and sights of this storybook country as an impressionable young man with an absent mother. He discovers a natural lacuna at the edge of the sea with its cave-like opening that swallows things like a lonely boy searching for treasure in a country not his own. He meticulously observes and records his surroundings in the notebooks that are so much a part of him. Of particular interest was the painter recording the colorful history of Mexico in images that "pull you right up the walls." Soon he is mixing the plaster for the murals of Diego Rivera just the way he learned to mix dough in the kitchen of a kindly cook. Harrison and Mrs. Rivera, the flamboyant Frida Kahlo, become lifelong friends and confidants. His ever-present notebook chronicles her colorful manner of speech and appearance along with his role as cook and secretary to the exiled visitor, Lev Trotsky. All is well until that fateful day in August of 1940 when tragedy strikes and he is forced once again to return to his native U.S. to begin life anew.Back home at age 24, Harrison's passion for writing consumes his life. He hires Violet Brown, who was "sensible as pancake flour" and was the counterbalance to Frida Kahlo, to be his stenographer. Not only was Mrs. Brown an efficient secretary, but she served as a buffer between a world going haywire and the reclusive employer who tries to fill the empty spaces in his life with words.This meld of fact and fiction proves to be a short course in art, the Russian Revolution, WWII, and McCarthyism told exclusively through Harrison's journals, letters, and newspaper accounts. The Lacuna is an ambitious, demanding, thought-provoking book filled with awesome descriptions of Mexico and the North Carolina mountains. I'm glad I bought this book so I can get a Kingsolver "fix" just in case it takes another nine years before she writes another one.

[candacevan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I began reading "The Lacuna" because it was recommended to me, and some of the best books I've read have come from word-of-mouth recommendations. I should probably be embarrassed that I had no idea who Barbara Kingsolver was -- I'd never read anything by her before.

There is trust that an author builds with his or her readers. The more works by author that we have read and enjoyed — the more times we've had our trust rewarded — the more likely we are to give an authoer the benefit of the doubt.

In this case the problem was that, being completely unfamiliar with Kingsolver, I had no basis for trust. This made it hard for me to get into the book.

It's not that the book wasn't well written or that the characters weren't memorable or engaging -- it's just that I started out thinking that I was reading a charming story about the relationship between a man-hungary, narcissistic mother and her indulgent son living in Mexico. But then the scene changed and we were at a miltary school in the US. And then the scene shifted again and we were back in Mexico with the son now working as a plaster mixer and then cook and then secretary.

All of a sudden, there's Frida Kahlo and Diego Riveras and lots of talk about the Communist movment, and then, boom, there's Leon Trotsky, and we're working our way up to his assassination.

From there we go back to the US where our protagonist, now in his 20s, settles in a Southern town and acts as though he's at the end of his life. He becomes a famous writer with phenomenal ease. He's gay, but he seems to have the libido of a dead duck....

It wasn't until the end of the book that it all began to come together for me. When it did, it became a book that I would label as "important," as well as satisfying.

Hopefully, the next time I pick up something by Kingsolver, I'll be smart enough to give her the benefit of the doubt.

[moodlezu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So good. Mixing historical characters (Kahlo, Rivera, Trotsky) with fictional. This is a great, atmospheric read.

[Cameron D. Young · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been touched so deeply by a book. We are so constantly bombarded by new media, stories of heroes and grandeur, fantastical worlds, and supernatural villains. Of course there is room for those and they have their place, but I crave stories about human beings. This story, simply put, is about life happening around you, and surviving it. It is told so poetically and honestly, that it’s difficult to grasp that it’s fiction. There are so many parallels in this book to what society and culture are enduring today, it’s a true testament to the author’s literary abilities. Thank you Barbara Kingsolver for writing this. This is one that I will read/listen to again and again, and again. I can’t wait to explore your other titles. Cheers, and much love!

[kwagnerroberts · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Holy moly...I just couldn't do it. I didn't like the diary style of writing. I never was able to get into the story (I was bored). I love Barbara Kingsolver, but didn't love this book. Sorry :(

[melopher_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Barbara Kingsolver is an amazing writer. Even when the summary of the book doesn't sound enticing to me, even when I'm not hooked until halfway through the book, even when the characters aren't people I can identify with, I am won over by the time the novel is through.It may start out with a simple statement that strikes my fancy: (from p. 17) His mother had let him carry two valises: one for books, one for clothes. The clothes were a waste, outgrown instantly. He should have filled both with books.It may be the way words are put together that catch my notice: (from p. 53) Luckily the Spaniards wrote buckets about the Azteca civilization before they blew it to buttons and used its stones for their churches.It may be a statement one of the characters makes that makes me stop and reflect: (from p. 197) A story is like a painting, Soli. It doesn't have to look like what you see out the window.It may be the theme that starts with the title and is carried throughout the story: (from p. 218) The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.The Lacuna is the story of Harrison Shepherd, who was born in America to an American father and moved to Mexico with his Mexican mother, and is trying to find his place in the world. Like any person you meet, you get to know Harrison a little at a time, in bits and pieces. With him you get to meet Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and through them Lev Trotsky--the leader of the Bolshevik rebellion--and experience the McCarthy hearings. Harrison is not entirely Mexican, nor entirely American. He is understood by neither his mother nor his father, yet he finds a place to belong, a way to survive regardless of where he is.While the book isn't gripping until around the midpoint (for me) it isn't boring or difficult to read either. It is a book to be read for its language and message, for the journey the characters make and the palpable descriptions. Not to be read in a hurry, but when you can spend some time seeing the colors and smelling the smells that will fill the room and linger on in your mind if you give them the chance.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have no particular interest in any of the subjects presented in this novel, but the story was so compelling that I could not put it down. Brava.

[eosch1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Did not like it. I could never quite root for or fully understand Harrison, and the diary style just didn't do it for me. Also, I found the whole he met artist Frida Khalo (who becomes a lifelong friend) and worked for Lev Trotsky a bit contrived. Just wasn't for me.

[bardbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wishing for more ... always, always an excellent read.

[lschiff-742783 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Got about half way through and then finally decided to quit. I've really enjoyed Kingsolver's other books, but this one doesn't even seem like it was by the same author. The dialogue is especially clumsy and the imagined scenes with Frida Kahlo were almost painful to read.

[librolindsay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In these short minutes after reading the first book that kept calling me back after months of quite the literary lull, I am drained and perhaps a little weepy. What can I say. I love Barbara Kingsolver, which is no news to anyone who knows me. And I now love Harrison Shepherd. This is heartbreak I feel when reading The Glass Menagerie. Whatever it is, I know it when it flushes through my bones and strings them together. And makes me have no idea how to adequately, concisely, and coherently say what I want to say. Here are some chunks of thought.

As I get older, I become less and less inclined to read synopses on the jackets/back covers of books before I read the book itself, and all I really knew about this one was that it somehow involved the whole Kahlo-Rivera-Trotsky lusty and political menage a trois. As much as I love Kingsolver, I was holding my breath, crossing my fingers that wasn't too lofty a goal to pull off, even for her. I was able to let go...her portrayal seemed so effortless and...normal(?) to me. These are three distinct figures, no doubt about that, and BK makes sure the reader knows it, but at the same time she portrayed them in a way that I could easily separate my prior notions of them to their roles in this novel. Primarily because, really, it's all about Harrison. We learn about the world as he learns through the people he cherishes (which might be the whole world). By the second half of the book, those three are nearly forgotten (only that the tragedy has everything to do with his connection to them). This really was two books.

"'Soli, let me tell you. The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.'"

Frida says this to Harrison midway through the novel, but it's been true since the beginning and remains true through the very end. Silence and hearsay--that's all there seems to be. It's the most confounding and comforting sentiment, roiling my brain for the past several days, for all the good and harm it does to the characters in this novel and the world in which we live. Where should trust be placed and what/who is worth believing? How can you tell? Shit. I don't know.

And why do humans feel compelled to continuously strive to find a source to direct their hatred? Fear, yes, I know...I feel so naive, but it's just so hard to wrap my head around it sometimes and it makes me nauseous. The HUAC hearings and the culture that it grew out of and that grew out of it have always pushed a button in me moreso than many other, more grievous crimes perpetrated in this world, and I'm not entirely sure why. This only makes me realize further that I live in a safe little bubble, or that even the safest of little bubbles can be burst.

I came to love Harrison like a brother or son. This was the strongest attachment I've felt to any one character I've read in a long time. I wanted to be his protectorate. His naivete sometimes got to be too infuriating (at first I wondered if this was a flaw in the writing, but then I forgot to remember that this was just a story). And there was just no good answer to his isolation. The way he found such courage in Lev's struggle, but could hardly deal when he was vilified himself. He was just one of those people...you know how you might be living your life with maybe not everything, but enough, and things are OK for you, but there's someone--a friend, a family member, could even be someone you know that you're not even necessarily close to--but in your gut you can feel them to be really GOOD people and you just want something GOOD to work out for them at least once in their life? That's how I feel about Harrison. I hope he was able to find it.

My head is pounding, and I've got to dream about what I can read next. Until next time, amen.

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a worthy novel in Kingsolver's lineup. I found it funny to see how all over the place the GR reviews were. I really liked the Mexico and Rivera/Kahlo portions, colorful and gripping. The McCarthy era stuff not so much, that and other painful episodes in American history were hard reading. It left me with a lot of historical things to look at further, which I suspect may have been part of the author's intention. Liked the characters very much, especially Violet Brown.

[mcorbink · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Complex book. The beginning was slow for me, there are many spanish words intermingled, as the story begins in Mexico. Most spanish words are explained, but not all. As our protagonist, a young boy in the beginning (Mexico) matures, he is involved with so many interesting people through work that he has learned to do, cooking mostly. He is a writer by nature. Once in the U.S., (he has citizenship in both countries, Mexican mother and American Dad) he is a young man looking for work and eventually begins writing novels which are well received in the states. It is a complex story as the relationships are deep and meaningful, the story intertwines Mexican and U.S. politics and so much more. You will not be disappointed.

[librarycin · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have no summary: Washington, Mexico, servants?, politics, something about the Soviet Union, communism, Trotsky, something with art?

I have never given 1 star before. This would have been my 3rd ever (I think – maybe 2nd) DNF if I wasn’t reading it for a challenge. As I do with books I’m not liking, I ended up skimming, hoping something would catch my attention, but it didn’t happen. Sadly, this is an author I usually like.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Harrison Shepherd is a character that gives Kingsolver the opportunity to write about Kahlo, Rivera and Trotsky in the 30s, and the Red Scare in the US in the late 40s. It's a melancholy story of a man and the history he is a part of.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really enjoyable read, even if it was a bulk 670 pages. Harrison Shepherd is a perpetual outsider. By birth, of an American father and Mexican mother, he is always the outsider in whichever country he chooses to live. He is an outsider, in his times, by sexual inclination. He is forced to be an outsider by those he has met and is perceived views - whether true or not. It makes for a narrative that is never settled and comfortable, there is always that feeling of being off balance or out of kilter with something, a bit like stroking a cat the wrong way. It's not always overt, but it is always there.
The book tells the story of his life, with inserts and annotations by his secretary, Violet Brown. It features his diaries and letters, and is not always coherent or consistent in its telling of events. Seeing the world through Harrison's eyes, you feel that there are times when he is missing something. He seems quite innocent and not always able to consider the possible implications or consequences of events.
In the latter part of the book, he is gradually drawn more and more tightly in the coils of the witch hunt for communists that swept the US after WW2. It s as incomprehensible to Harrison as it is to me, but that doesn't stop him being swept away by something far larger and uglier than he is.
The ending is ambiguous, which feels right and fits the tone of the rest of Harrison's life.

[rdra1962 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Historical fiction about Mexico, Trotsky, McCarthy, and more, really well written. It read very slowly, and is a big book, but very little was expendable!

[ajlewis2_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio version which was narrated by the author. I’m quite sure that my experience of the book was richer than it would have been if I had read it in print. Kingsolver knows her characters and she is able to express them through her voice. But even without this, the writing is pure magic! Every character is so vivid and I cared to know each bit I heard them say or do. The story takes place beginning in Mexico in the early 1900s and the scene is wonderfully set. Kingsolver is so good at giving meaningful information in ways that can be playful, fun, and also powerful.

The story is about an American boy raised in Mexico by a mother who is mostly interested in herself. He comes to know some famous historical people who have an impact on him. One of these is Trotsky. Others are artists. The boy is interested in writing at an early age. The story progresses into post-World War II in America including Hoover and McCarthy chasing the threats of communist conspiracies. So there is quite a bit of history included, but not at the expense of the story. Besides caring so much about the main character, I loved V.B. who is his secretary in the later years. That character is so great to listen to, but I think that the way she expresses herself will shine through from the printed page as well.

I highly recommend this delightful and meaningful book.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An easy read, the pages flew by. The story shifts from Mexico to Washington, D.C. and then finally Asheville, North Carolina, in different eras, a good trip through them.

[kmajort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fabulous! Always pleased with Kingsolver, this novel had me reaching for histories in the McCarthyism era.
Amazing how a label can be embraced in one year then reviled and persecuted a few years hence.
Highly recommended.
The audio is read by the author, a big help with the Hispanic linguistics.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Barbara Kingsolver is one of those authors that I avoided for a long time because of the very snobby idea that an author that popular couldn't be very good, i.e. very literary. I'm so glad I took a chance because I've loved all of the books I've read by her. She is gifted at creating characters you care about and using interesting settings. That makes her easy to read and popular, but her books are not at all common, light, or simple.

In The Lacuna, she delves into a young man named Harrison Shepherd through his diaries which are compiled by V.B. (later we learn this is Violet Brown). Shepherd is the son of an American father and Mexican mother. At age 12, his mother leaves his father and takes him with her to Mexico, where they live in a string of locations following her boyfriend of the moment. When he strikes out on his own, he ends up as cook, aide, and eventually friend to Diego Rivera, the famous muralist, and Frida Kahlo, the famous painter. He and Frida have a close relationship and it resurfaces throughout the novel, even after he leaves Mexico. He moves back to America, to Asheville, N.C., after a traumatic incident involving Trotsky (yes, Trotsky) and begins writing historical fiction novels. His ties with the Communists during his time in Mexico come back to haunt him as the McCarthy Era begins.

Normally I don't give that much of a plot summary, but the history really shapes Shepherd's life in this book. Somehow even with all the famous characters and true history drama, Kingsolver usually manages to keep the focus on Harrison Shepherd and his internal life. The symbolism in the book is subtle and deep and the characterizations are very believable.

I thought at times that the history overwhelmed the main character just a little bit, but I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.