Join us to discuss The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson.
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.
Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakota people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato—where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.
On a winter’s day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband’s farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron—women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.
Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors. (From the publisher)
Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and audiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app. Ebook and audiobook copies are always available on Hoopla.
For those who would like to purchase a copy of The Seed Keeper, please support our local independent bookstore, The Book Stall at 811 Elm Street in Winnetka. Copies may also be available at Books Down Under on the Lower Level of the library. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the Wilmette Public Library.
From the south: Go north on Green Bay Road. Turn left on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From the north: Go south on Green Bay Road. Turn right on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From I-94 (Edens Expressway):from the South - exit at Lake Ave. East. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave. • from the North - exit at Rt. 41/Skokie Blvd. Turn left (east) on Lake Ave. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave.
Mass transit options include CTA, Metra, and Pace.
