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The Poisonwood Bible Book 1, Prologue Summary

How It All Goes Down

Orleanna Price. Sanderling Island, Georgia

  • Buckle up. We're going to kick things off with Book 1, "Genesis/The Things We Carried."
  • A woman walks through the jungle with her four daughters, two blondes, two brunettes.
  • They stop by a stream for a picnic. The woman, Orleanna Price, makes eye contact with an okapi across the stream.
  • She asks us to imagine what Africa would be like if explorers from other continents minded their own business and never came.
  • For the rest of the chapter, she tells us a bit about herself and her baggage. 
  • Ironic that a woman with no luggage to speak of has so much baggage. We don't have enough space to unpack it here; check out Orleanna's "Character Analysis" to learn more.