Brief reviews of new paperback releases.

Byline: Nancy Pate

NATURE'S WAYS

_ "Prodigal Summer," by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial, $14, paperback): A born storyteller, Kingsolver generously offers readers three novels in one, intertwining the lives of a handful of people living in the southern Appalachians. The characters' links to one another become obvious over the course of the book, but more important is the connection they all come to feel with the natural world. Wildlife biologist Deanna Wolfe's solitude is disturbed by the arrival of a young hunter and the shadowy presence of small golden coyotes. Meanwhile, Lusa, a widowed "city girl" and entomologist, must decide what to do with her …