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The Seed Keeper
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.
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.
372 pages, Paperback
First published March 9, 2021
About the author
Diane Wilson
4 books213 followersDiane Wilson is a Dakota writer who uses personal experience to
illustrate broader social and historical context. Her new novel, The
Seed Keeper, will be published by Milkweed Editions in March, 2021.
Wilson’s memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past, won a 2006
Minnesota Book Award and was selected for the 2012 One Min-
neapolis One Read program. Her nonfiction book, Beloved Child: A
Dakota Way of Life, was awarded the 2012 Barbara Sudler Award
from History Colorado. Her work has been featured in many pub-
lications, including the anthology A Good Time for the Truth. She has
served as a Mentor for the Loft Emerging Artist program as well as
Intermedia’s Beyond the Pale. Awards include the Minnesota State
Arts Board, a 2013 Bush Foundation Fellowship, a 2018 AARP/
Pollen 50 Over 50 Leadership Award, and the Jerome Foundation.
She is a descendent of the Mdewakanton Oyate and enrolled on
the Rosebud Reservation. Wilson currently serves as the Executive
Director for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
Source: https://www.dianewilsonwords.com/about
illustrate broader social and historical context. Her new novel, The
Seed Keeper, will be published by Milkweed Editions in March, 2021.
Wilson’s memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past, won a 2006
Minnesota Book Award and was selected for the 2012 One Min-
neapolis One Read program. Her nonfiction book, Beloved Child: A
Dakota Way of Life, was awarded the 2012 Barbara Sudler Award
from History Colorado. Her work has been featured in many pub-
lications, including the anthology A Good Time for the Truth. She has
served as a Mentor for the Loft Emerging Artist program as well as
Intermedia’s Beyond the Pale. Awards include the Minnesota State
Arts Board, a 2013 Bush Foundation Fellowship, a 2018 AARP/
Pollen 50 Over 50 Leadership Award, and the Jerome Foundation.
She is a descendent of the Mdewakanton Oyate and enrolled on
the Rosebud Reservation. Wilson currently serves as the Executive
Director for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
Source: https://www.dianewilsonwords.com/about
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,974 reviews
March 21, 2021
This is a beautifully written novel, a marriage of history and fiction, and one that is imagined with so much of the truth of the past and present. It doesn’t matter that the names of the characters are not real. What matters is that what happens here represents real life events, and a culture and history which reflect the love and the nurturing given by the women of the Dakhota nation. Over generations they provide for their children and their children’s children onwards to bring them food and life and the stories that bind them to each other and their legacy. What matters here is the truth of an awful history and the dangers for the environment and, of course the seeds and their keepers.
When I first met Rosalie Iron Wing, I was moved by her sadness, the void in her heart, missing the things of her old life, having lived for nearly thirty years away from the reservation. Now her dreams, her memories of her childhood with her father before the foster homes, have sparked a yearning to know about her history, her people, the mother she never new. These are the things that call her home. Mostly told from Rosalie’s point of view, she tells of her childhood. It’s about the stories her father told her, the things he taught her, how he wouldn’t let her forget what happened in Mankato in 1862. It’s about her years after as the wife of a white farmer, to the present coming home. In this introspective narrative we are made privy to what it was like being a Native American in a town of whites, the rift between her and her husband over the seeds and planting, over their son, the heartbreaking tensions in her relationship with her son. There are two other narratives, voices of two other women. Rosalie’s best friend Gaby, whose friendship helped her get through those foster home years, comes in and out of Rosalie’s life through the years. Gaby is feisty and smart and through her work brings to light the danger to the environment, especially the rivers by toxic chemicals used in farming. The third narrative takes us back to the 1880’s and then in the 1920’s with Marie Blackbird’s story poignantly telling of the seeds and the heartbreaking and ugly truths . Her story reflects the anguish of losing children, taken away by the government to schools, losing home, land and life, bringing a connection to Rosalie’s heritage.
So yes, there are messages here, important ones, told beautifully in this debut novel by a writer, who herself is Dakhota. I learned about things I didn’t know (see link below). I was so taken with Rosalie’s story and the history of the Dakhotas and I couldn’t put it down.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakot...
I received a copy of this book from Milkweed Editions through Edelweiss.
When I first met Rosalie Iron Wing, I was moved by her sadness, the void in her heart, missing the things of her old life, having lived for nearly thirty years away from the reservation. Now her dreams, her memories of her childhood with her father before the foster homes, have sparked a yearning to know about her history, her people, the mother she never new. These are the things that call her home. Mostly told from Rosalie’s point of view, she tells of her childhood. It’s about the stories her father told her, the things he taught her, how he wouldn’t let her forget what happened in Mankato in 1862. It’s about her years after as the wife of a white farmer, to the present coming home. In this introspective narrative we are made privy to what it was like being a Native American in a town of whites, the rift between her and her husband over the seeds and planting, over their son, the heartbreaking tensions in her relationship with her son. There are two other narratives, voices of two other women. Rosalie’s best friend Gaby, whose friendship helped her get through those foster home years, comes in and out of Rosalie’s life through the years. Gaby is feisty and smart and through her work brings to light the danger to the environment, especially the rivers by toxic chemicals used in farming. The third narrative takes us back to the 1880’s and then in the 1920’s with Marie Blackbird’s story poignantly telling of the seeds and the heartbreaking and ugly truths . Her story reflects the anguish of losing children, taken away by the government to schools, losing home, land and life, bringing a connection to Rosalie’s heritage.
So yes, there are messages here, important ones, told beautifully in this debut novel by a writer, who herself is Dakhota. I learned about things I didn’t know (see link below). I was so taken with Rosalie’s story and the history of the Dakhotas and I couldn’t put it down.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakot...
I received a copy of this book from Milkweed Editions through Edelweiss.
November 9, 2021
Not enough stories can be read or written, of the natives being robbed of their lands, their culture, their children.
And Never have I become more aware and grateful for the precious seeds we plant every year in our garden.
This is just one story of people who lost their identity to the white man. Another reminder of what was taken from those who held the land and its animals sacred and respected.
Seeds in this story are at the centre of Rosalie Iron Wing’s history. The seeds that have been preserved and provided sustenance for generations.
But although her story, flash backs to her own difficult life in the late 70’s to the early 2000’s, it goes further back to her family ties and the war that scattered them to the present day, where the big bad industries came in, poisoning the land with their fertilizers and their genetically engineered seeds.
It’s a story of women, history and the seeds that have held them together.
4⭐️
And Never have I become more aware and grateful for the precious seeds we plant every year in our garden.
This is just one story of people who lost their identity to the white man. Another reminder of what was taken from those who held the land and its animals sacred and respected.
Seeds in this story are at the centre of Rosalie Iron Wing’s history. The seeds that have been preserved and provided sustenance for generations.
But although her story, flash backs to her own difficult life in the late 70’s to the early 2000’s, it goes further back to her family ties and the war that scattered them to the present day, where the big bad industries came in, poisoning the land with their fertilizers and their genetically engineered seeds.
It’s a story of women, history and the seeds that have held them together.
4⭐️
April 30, 2021
“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundation of our being.”
-- Vandana Shiva
When I heard about this book, I was in hopes that it would bring more power and inspiration to the argument that we should be saving our own seeds. I was not disappointed. Diane Wilson, through the main character, Rosalie Iron Wing, shows the history of seed saving among the Dakhótas and it’s continued importance for all of us. Rosalie has a rich heritage but she knows little of it, having become an orphan at age 12 when her father died of a heart attack. Her memories of him are loving ones but her mother is mostly shapes and shadows. Against the wishes of her Great Aunt Darlene, Rosalie goes into foster care, eventually ending up in a cold, damp basement, stowing books from the thrift store under her bed.
Rosalie lives in Minnesota, or as the Dakhóta call it, Mní Sota Makhóčhe, a land where wooly mammoths and giant bison once ranged. Seventy miles from the nearest reservation, she goes to school with mostly white children that call her names; Rosalie acts like she doesn’t care. She didn’t know how much she could use a good friend until she met Gaby Makespeace, one of the few other brown kids in school. Then, looking to make money, she signs on for temporary work on a farm, detasseling corn. John Meister thinks Rosalie and the other two boys he hires are ill equipped for a day of hard work on his farm. Rosalie is using a garbage bag for a raincoat and has no boots, but she shows John just how hard she can work.
John and Rosalie’s story form the backbone of the novel. John’s past and present is embedded in the US system of agriculture. While Rosalie doesn’t know all of her history, living with her father in a cabin in the woods during early childhood formed her relationship with nature. She is easy inside herself when surrounded by trees and the river, wherever nature abounds. They are an unlikely couple, but they are perfect to show the juxtaposition of the Dakhóta way of life and the American farmer. The pall of the US-Dakhóta War of 1862 still hangs over the cities and towns of Minnesota. 38 Dakhóta Indians were hanged in Mankato in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. They had gone to war because the U.S. government had broken its treaties, which meant that after the war, all Dakhóta land was open for settlement. Rosalie thinks that John’s family land likely once belonged to the Dakhótas.
Diane Wilson’s prose is simple and straightforward. Dulcet with a certain cadence, it’s rhythm invites the reader into Rosalie’s world. Like breathing or the wind blowing through the trees, it isn’t showy or dramatic, but nonetheless has something about it that feels essential, life-giving. Wilson’s message of seed-saving is one that I’ve long thought of as critical. In her author’s note, she quotes from the documentary Seed: The Untold Story, “94 percent of our global seed varieties have already disappeared. Scientists warn that a million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction. The loss of these relatives and our seed varieties is devastating for the genetic diversity of the earth, and for our survival as human beings.”
Wilson’s narrative captured my attention. She dips into the past so that the reader learns something about Rosalie’s seed-saving heritage before Rosalie does. My time with these engaging characters brought to my mind the many days I used to spend in the garden with my parents while I was growing up. They were not seed savers, but their love of fresh vegetables and putting food away for the cold days of winter imparted to me the importance of food security.
“The myth of "free choice" begins with "free market" and "free trade". When five transnational corporations control the seed market, it is not a free market, it is a cartel.”
― Vandana Shiva
-- Vandana Shiva
When I heard about this book, I was in hopes that it would bring more power and inspiration to the argument that we should be saving our own seeds. I was not disappointed. Diane Wilson, through the main character, Rosalie Iron Wing, shows the history of seed saving among the Dakhótas and it’s continued importance for all of us. Rosalie has a rich heritage but she knows little of it, having become an orphan at age 12 when her father died of a heart attack. Her memories of him are loving ones but her mother is mostly shapes and shadows. Against the wishes of her Great Aunt Darlene, Rosalie goes into foster care, eventually ending up in a cold, damp basement, stowing books from the thrift store under her bed.
Rosalie lives in Minnesota, or as the Dakhóta call it, Mní Sota Makhóčhe, a land where wooly mammoths and giant bison once ranged. Seventy miles from the nearest reservation, she goes to school with mostly white children that call her names; Rosalie acts like she doesn’t care. She didn’t know how much she could use a good friend until she met Gaby Makespeace, one of the few other brown kids in school. Then, looking to make money, she signs on for temporary work on a farm, detasseling corn. John Meister thinks Rosalie and the other two boys he hires are ill equipped for a day of hard work on his farm. Rosalie is using a garbage bag for a raincoat and has no boots, but she shows John just how hard she can work.
John and Rosalie’s story form the backbone of the novel. John’s past and present is embedded in the US system of agriculture. While Rosalie doesn’t know all of her history, living with her father in a cabin in the woods during early childhood formed her relationship with nature. She is easy inside herself when surrounded by trees and the river, wherever nature abounds. They are an unlikely couple, but they are perfect to show the juxtaposition of the Dakhóta way of life and the American farmer. The pall of the US-Dakhóta War of 1862 still hangs over the cities and towns of Minnesota. 38 Dakhóta Indians were hanged in Mankato in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. They had gone to war because the U.S. government had broken its treaties, which meant that after the war, all Dakhóta land was open for settlement. Rosalie thinks that John’s family land likely once belonged to the Dakhótas.
Diane Wilson’s prose is simple and straightforward. Dulcet with a certain cadence, it’s rhythm invites the reader into Rosalie’s world. Like breathing or the wind blowing through the trees, it isn’t showy or dramatic, but nonetheless has something about it that feels essential, life-giving. Wilson’s message of seed-saving is one that I’ve long thought of as critical. In her author’s note, she quotes from the documentary Seed: The Untold Story, “94 percent of our global seed varieties have already disappeared. Scientists warn that a million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction. The loss of these relatives and our seed varieties is devastating for the genetic diversity of the earth, and for our survival as human beings.”
Wilson’s narrative captured my attention. She dips into the past so that the reader learns something about Rosalie’s seed-saving heritage before Rosalie does. My time with these engaging characters brought to my mind the many days I used to spend in the garden with my parents while I was growing up. They were not seed savers, but their love of fresh vegetables and putting food away for the cold days of winter imparted to me the importance of food security.
“The myth of "free choice" begins with "free market" and "free trade". When five transnational corporations control the seed market, it is not a free market, it is a cartel.”
― Vandana Shiva
July 4, 2021
If you loved Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, this is a novel along similar themes. When Rosalie's husband dies, she returns to her father's home in Minnesota on Dakhota land, a place she has not been since she was removed and placed into foster care as a child. The timeline moves back and forth and sometimes the pov switches to another character as it tells the story of a people, the land, the seeds, and those who keep them.
CW for those already experiencing trauma surrounding residential schools, foster care, and the general removal of culture and home that so many endured.
I received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss. The book came out March 9th, so I'm behind, but I'm still glad I read Braiding Sweetgrass first.
CW for those already experiencing trauma surrounding residential schools, foster care, and the general removal of culture and home that so many endured.
I received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss. The book came out March 9th, so I'm behind, but I'm still glad I read Braiding Sweetgrass first.
November 21, 2021
5 🧬🧬🧬🧬🧬
"Like seeds dreaming beneath the snow . . . in them is hidden the gate to eternity." Kahlil Gibran
Superlative. The story, the message and history conveyed, the due respect paid to our American Native heritage, especially the women—warrior princesses, carrying life sustaining knowledge in their genes.
"History might have cost me my family and my language, but I was reclaiming a relationship with the earth, water, stars, and seeds that was thousands of years old."
"Like seeds dreaming beneath the snow . . . in them is hidden the gate to eternity." Kahlil Gibran
Superlative. The story, the message and history conveyed, the due respect paid to our American Native heritage, especially the women—warrior princesses, carrying life sustaining knowledge in their genes.
"History might have cost me my family and my language, but I was reclaiming a relationship with the earth, water, stars, and seeds that was thousands of years old."
August 16, 2021
So far one of my favorite books from 2021!
"Everywhere I looked, I saw how seeds were holding the world together. They planted forests, covered meadows with wildflowers, sprouted in the cracks of sidewalks . . . Seeds breathed and spoke in a language all their own. Each one was a miniature time capsule, capturing years of stories in its tender flesh. How ignorant I felt compared to the brilliance contained in a single seed."
Diane Wilson has written a remarkable novel that serves as both a record of an indigenous past and also as a wake-up call to the present and future. Characters are beautifully rendered with the same care and tenderness in which she paints the landscape. Wilson's voice is mesmerizing, deep, wounded but forgiving. This should be required reading. It's easy for many to forget how this land was stolen, along with the children of the native tribes. I suspect that this message will be resented by some, but my hope is that many more will pick it up and learn about the history of seeds and the Dakhota people.
You will never forget Rosalie Iron Wing and her long journey toward closing the circle of family and community, after being orphaned and dumped into the foster care system.
I also deeply appreciated the depiction of farm life in Minnesota. And the new understanding that a thin line divides the indigenous people and the farmers who stole their land. Both need the land and love it in their own ways. We can learn from the Dakhota and "fall back in love with the earth."
The Seed Keeper is a long, harmonious, careful braiding of songs that pay tribute to Wilson's ancestors, and the novel also reminds us that our own ancestors' lives were much closer to the soil and nature. Highly recommend this addictive novel. If it's a little slow at first, stick with it. You'll be drawn in, I hope, as I was. I didn't want it to end.
The trailer, which is a spoken word film/poem that opens the book:
https://www.dianewilsonwords.com/vide...
"Everywhere I looked, I saw how seeds were holding the world together. They planted forests, covered meadows with wildflowers, sprouted in the cracks of sidewalks . . . Seeds breathed and spoke in a language all their own. Each one was a miniature time capsule, capturing years of stories in its tender flesh. How ignorant I felt compared to the brilliance contained in a single seed."
Diane Wilson has written a remarkable novel that serves as both a record of an indigenous past and also as a wake-up call to the present and future. Characters are beautifully rendered with the same care and tenderness in which she paints the landscape. Wilson's voice is mesmerizing, deep, wounded but forgiving. This should be required reading. It's easy for many to forget how this land was stolen, along with the children of the native tribes. I suspect that this message will be resented by some, but my hope is that many more will pick it up and learn about the history of seeds and the Dakhota people.
You will never forget Rosalie Iron Wing and her long journey toward closing the circle of family and community, after being orphaned and dumped into the foster care system.
I also deeply appreciated the depiction of farm life in Minnesota. And the new understanding that a thin line divides the indigenous people and the farmers who stole their land. Both need the land and love it in their own ways. We can learn from the Dakhota and "fall back in love with the earth."
The Seed Keeper is a long, harmonious, careful braiding of songs that pay tribute to Wilson's ancestors, and the novel also reminds us that our own ancestors' lives were much closer to the soil and nature. Highly recommend this addictive novel. If it's a little slow at first, stick with it. You'll be drawn in, I hope, as I was. I didn't want it to end.
The trailer, which is a spoken word film/poem that opens the book:
https://www.dianewilsonwords.com/vide...
September 22, 2021
Thakóža, you’ve had no one to teach you, not even how to be part of a family or a community. You know what the grandmothers went through to save the seeds. That’s how tough you have to be as an Indian woman. And as a seed keeper.
With The Seed Keeper, author Diane Wilson uses “seeds”, both literally and metaphorically, to make social commentary and to trace the hard history of the Dakhóta people of Minnesota. In brief: The U.S. government signed a treaty granting the Dakhóta a portion of their traditional lands in perpetuity, but then broke the treaty to settle the West with white folk. The starving Dakhóta rose up when promised food wasn’t delivered to them, were massacred and hanged in the country’s largest mass execution, and the rest were imprisoned or marched to reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska (the women, the seed keepers, sewing precious heirloom seeds into the hems of their clothing). Eventually, Dakhóta were allowed to return to their homelands, only to have their children taken away to abusive boarding schools. And when those students grew up and had families of their own, they were often so broken — suffering depression, addictions, health issues — that lurking social services swooped in and put their children in foster care with white families. The effects of this history is related through the present day experiences of Rosalie Iron Wing — having no mother and losing her father when she was twelve, Rosalie was alienated from her people, their traditions, and barely survived foster care — but like a seed awaiting the right conditions for germination, Rosalie’s potential was curled up safely within herself the whole time, just waiting for the chance to grow. In a broad sense, this reminded me of Braiding Sweetgrass meets Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee meets Indian Horse, but it’s in the particular — the history of these Dakhóta people and not the lumping of all Indigenous people as some tragic monolith — that The Seed Keeper feels most important; when an Indigenous author such as Diane Wilson asks me to listen to the story of her people, I strive to do so respectfully and with an open mind and heart (and not dwell too long on plot details that may not have worked for me).
Once in a while I rocked a bit, but mostly I just sat, my thoughts far away. I was not interested in what would come next. I still had business with the past. I could feel the way it tugged at me, growing stronger as John’s light dimmed. No matter what people said, when he finally left his body, this life of ours would go with him. There was so little left as it was. I was a burnt field, waiting for a new season to begin.
As I opened with, Wilson treats “seeds” both metaphorically (as they are containers of the past and the future for Rosalie and the Dakhóta) and also literally: In order to escape her foster mother, Rosalie agrees to marry a local white farmer she barely knows when she turns eighteen. Rosalie begins to reconnect with nature as she plants the seeds for her first kitchen garden, and as the plot develops and her husband eventually embraces GMO agriculture, a philosophical divide is explored between traditional and modern methods. As The Seed Keeper opens, this husband, John, has just died and forty-year-old Rosalie returns for the first time to her father’s cabin in the woods. Through her POV and those of some of the seed keepers who came before her, the story of the Dakhóta, Rosalie, and her own family are all eventually revealed; and as might be expected, it is here, back on her traditional lands, that Rosalie finally blossoms.
Sometimes, when I was working in the garden, a wordless prayer opened between me and the earth, as if we shared a common language that I understood best when I was silent. Only when paying attention with all of my senses could I appreciate the cry of the hawk circling overhead, or see sunflowers turning toward the sun, or hear the hum of carpenter bees burrowing into rotted logs. Just as birds made their nests in a circle, this clearing encircled us, creating a safe place to grow and to live. History might have cost me my family and my language, but I was reclaiming a relationship with the earth, water, stars, and seeds that was thousands of years old.
In a number of memoirs I’ve read by Indigenous authors (Up Ghost River, One Native Life, The Reason You Walk), the return to traditional lands does have a powerful healing effect over body and soul for First Nations peoples, and as Canada nears our first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we should all be open-hearted to the stories these first peoples need us to hear; it is the first and smallest step towards true reconciliation and I am grateful to Diane Wilson for sharing her story with me.
April 28, 2021
The Seed Keeper presents a multigenerational story of cultural and ecological depredations interwoven with themes of family and spiritual regeneration. Combining the voices of four women narrators, the plot spans one hundred forty years and gradually unfolds the generational and cultural trauma that resulted from displacing Native Americans from their land and family bonds.
The primary narrator that carries this story forward is Rosalie Red Wing. When we first meet Rosalie, she is emotionally untethered.Orphaned as an early teen,Rosalie was separated from her extended family and placed in foster care.She married an alcoholic White farmer as a teenager in order to escape her foster home. Now forty years old and living in Mankato,she is coping with her husband’s recent death and has no sense of connection to the town or its culture. Mankato was the site of of the largest mass execution in United States history. Thirty eight Native Americans were hanged in the aftermath of the Dakhota War in 1862.. Without the emotional bond of her marriage, she feels no link to this community.Additionally, she is an avid gardener with a love of the soil. The quality of the land and soil is transforming because big business is using chemicals that despoil the natural resources that are central to the Dakhota vision and tradition.
Bereft of emotional and societal touchstones,Rosalie undertakes a journey to her family reservation. She hopes to rediscover her roots and tradition. Her journey of discovery gradually takes shape. She meets a great aunt who fills in the gaps in her family history and reacquaints her with the importance of seeds as a means to connect to the past, provide current sustenance and serve as a spiritual guidepost to the future.
The novel contains a wealth of ideas and metaphors. A primary symbol is that of the seed, which serves as an elegiac paean to a culture and way of life that has been violently disrupted. A concurrent consideration is the ecological damage that is a consequence of this rapacious history. The narrative is at times poetic, at times didactic and at times horrifying. The juxtaposition of generational trauma with foundational cultural beliefs raises questions about our path forward to achieve a more harmonious and equitable society.
The primary narrator that carries this story forward is Rosalie Red Wing. When we first meet Rosalie, she is emotionally untethered.Orphaned as an early teen,Rosalie was separated from her extended family and placed in foster care.She married an alcoholic White farmer as a teenager in order to escape her foster home. Now forty years old and living in Mankato,she is coping with her husband’s recent death and has no sense of connection to the town or its culture. Mankato was the site of of the largest mass execution in United States history. Thirty eight Native Americans were hanged in the aftermath of the Dakhota War in 1862.. Without the emotional bond of her marriage, she feels no link to this community.Additionally, she is an avid gardener with a love of the soil. The quality of the land and soil is transforming because big business is using chemicals that despoil the natural resources that are central to the Dakhota vision and tradition.
Bereft of emotional and societal touchstones,Rosalie undertakes a journey to her family reservation. She hopes to rediscover her roots and tradition. Her journey of discovery gradually takes shape. She meets a great aunt who fills in the gaps in her family history and reacquaints her with the importance of seeds as a means to connect to the past, provide current sustenance and serve as a spiritual guidepost to the future.
The novel contains a wealth of ideas and metaphors. A primary symbol is that of the seed, which serves as an elegiac paean to a culture and way of life that has been violently disrupted. A concurrent consideration is the ecological damage that is a consequence of this rapacious history. The narrative is at times poetic, at times didactic and at times horrifying. The juxtaposition of generational trauma with foundational cultural beliefs raises questions about our path forward to achieve a more harmonious and equitable society.
December 4, 2022
As debut novels go, this is engaging, well written yet heart breaking. Inspired by a story Diane Wilson heard while participating in the Dakhota Commemorative March, it speaks miles for the value indigenous tribes hold for Nature's blessings and the sense of community, family and compassion.
Rosalie Iron Wing, born of a Dakhota mother suffering emotional trauma was raised by an aunt who taught her 'the ways' and heritage. Growing up in a poverty stricken Minnesota farming community, Rosie's life was far from perfect yet she managed to maintain a bright outlook. As she neared the age of 18 and in need of a stable environment, she proposed marriage to John, a farmer many years her senior and soon after gave birth to Thomas. The author weaves heart wrenching elements into the story fabric as we learn of the challenges John and Rosalie encountered. Toggling back and forth to 1860's memoirs of Rosie's great grandmother we learn of the the Dakhota community and their difficulties dealing with racial injustice. Devoted to the Spirit of Nature and appreciating its bounties, the Dakhota's pass indigenous corn seeds from one generation to the next along with the importance of living off the Earth. When the story toggles back to the present, we find Rosie and her best friend Gaby battling with corporate agriculture whose fertilizers poison the rivers, and technology genetically alters indigenous corn putting profits ahead of Nature. Torn between staying alive or going bankrupt, John caves in to corporate demands and farms the genetically altered corn which ultimately destroys their marriage. Toward the end, as her great aunt nears death, Rosie becomes the recipient of ancient indigenous corn seeds, hence the story's title.
Amidst the difficulties, bright spots in the form of compassion, family, love and joy gained from gardening balance the emotionally challenging story.
As I reflect on the reading experience, there were times when I stopped due to emotional struggle with the story. Regardless, this is a tribute to the importance love, understanding and compassion as well as the gifts of Nature.
Rosalie Iron Wing, born of a Dakhota mother suffering emotional trauma was raised by an aunt who taught her 'the ways' and heritage. Growing up in a poverty stricken Minnesota farming community, Rosie's life was far from perfect yet she managed to maintain a bright outlook. As she neared the age of 18 and in need of a stable environment, she proposed marriage to John, a farmer many years her senior and soon after gave birth to Thomas. The author weaves heart wrenching elements into the story fabric as we learn of the challenges John and Rosalie encountered. Toggling back and forth to 1860's memoirs of Rosie's great grandmother we learn of the the Dakhota community and their difficulties dealing with racial injustice. Devoted to the Spirit of Nature and appreciating its bounties, the Dakhota's pass indigenous corn seeds from one generation to the next along with the importance of living off the Earth. When the story toggles back to the present, we find Rosie and her best friend Gaby battling with corporate agriculture whose fertilizers poison the rivers, and technology genetically alters indigenous corn putting profits ahead of Nature. Torn between staying alive or going bankrupt, John caves in to corporate demands and farms the genetically altered corn which ultimately destroys their marriage. Toward the end, as her great aunt nears death, Rosie becomes the recipient of ancient indigenous corn seeds, hence the story's title.
Amidst the difficulties, bright spots in the form of compassion, family, love and joy gained from gardening balance the emotionally challenging story.
As I reflect on the reading experience, there were times when I stopped due to emotional struggle with the story. Regardless, this is a tribute to the importance love, understanding and compassion as well as the gifts of Nature.
January 27, 2022
4.5 rounded up for this easy-to-listen-to audiobook on a recent road trip. My husband gave it a 5.
Books that focus on Native American history always remind me of some of the worst of our nation's moments--the hubris shown by those in power, the inhumanity that victimizes those perceived as "other", the loss of culture when the minority is pummeled by the hailstorms of the majority. It can be a bleak read.
This book was anything but bleak. It had its moments...being an orphan, being mistreated in foster care, being tormented by schoolmates, being battered by life events. But it all softened, following Rosalie on a journey of discovery and memory; going back to her beginnings to fill in the gaps created when she lost touch with her people and history. And in so going, she and I both learned and grew and renewed our respect for a way of life in sync with our natural world, rather than fighting against it. Informative, at times humorous and often touching, a story that slid down easily with characters I grew fond of as it zigzagged through time and events.
When we used to grow more of a garden, we tried to get "Heritage" or "Heirloom" seeds for our plants, rather than the packets found at the local store. I knew they were considered better, but didn't really think about the history of them. This book was a treatise on those seeds. In the future, if I plant again, I will now picture all the people who came before me, their entire lives wrapped up in those little life-giving seeds...like a new version of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. I will think about the life force present in each tomato or bean that I eat, and all the families and love that are connected through time to them. And I will think about all those in this world who have no choice but to buy and eat food produced through modified genetics or poor facsimiles of the original plants...for the loss is greater than simply the nutritional value of the food.
Books that focus on Native American history always remind me of some of the worst of our nation's moments--the hubris shown by those in power, the inhumanity that victimizes those perceived as "other", the loss of culture when the minority is pummeled by the hailstorms of the majority. It can be a bleak read.
This book was anything but bleak. It had its moments...being an orphan, being mistreated in foster care, being tormented by schoolmates, being battered by life events. But it all softened, following Rosalie on a journey of discovery and memory; going back to her beginnings to fill in the gaps created when she lost touch with her people and history. And in so going, she and I both learned and grew and renewed our respect for a way of life in sync with our natural world, rather than fighting against it. Informative, at times humorous and often touching, a story that slid down easily with characters I grew fond of as it zigzagged through time and events.
When we used to grow more of a garden, we tried to get "Heritage" or "Heirloom" seeds for our plants, rather than the packets found at the local store. I knew they were considered better, but didn't really think about the history of them. This book was a treatise on those seeds. In the future, if I plant again, I will now picture all the people who came before me, their entire lives wrapped up in those little life-giving seeds...like a new version of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. I will think about the life force present in each tomato or bean that I eat, and all the families and love that are connected through time to them. And I will think about all those in this world who have no choice but to buy and eat food produced through modified genetics or poor facsimiles of the original plants...for the loss is greater than simply the nutritional value of the food.
September 15, 2021
It’s been awhile since a book has made me cry. Chi’miigwech to Milkweed Editions for gifting me this opportunity to shed some tears while reading a spectacular novel.
“The Seed Keeper is a tremendous love song of a novel. Diane Wilson has expertly crafted an incredibly moving story that spans multiple generations of a Dakhóta family. One of the latest descendants that we meet is Rosalie Iron Wing who is largely disconnected from her Dakhóta culture & her family since being placed in foster care at a young age. …..
This is an ode to the land, to blood memory, to the strength of Indigenous women, moreover Dakhóta women & the resiliency of Indigenous ways of life.”
(For access to my full review, you can subscribe to my Patreon! Link is in my bio)
“The Seed Keeper is a tremendous love song of a novel. Diane Wilson has expertly crafted an incredibly moving story that spans multiple generations of a Dakhóta family. One of the latest descendants that we meet is Rosalie Iron Wing who is largely disconnected from her Dakhóta culture & her family since being placed in foster care at a young age. …..
This is an ode to the land, to blood memory, to the strength of Indigenous women, moreover Dakhóta women & the resiliency of Indigenous ways of life.”
(For access to my full review, you can subscribe to my Patreon! Link is in my bio)
March 30, 2022
A sweeping generational tale, The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson was published in 2021. Rosalie Iron Wing grew up in the woods learning about the plants, stars and origin stories of the Dakota people. A life changing event for Rosalie is her entry into foster care and her subsequent life as a mother, widow and two decades on her white husband's farm before returning to her childhood home. A powerful narrative told in the voices of four-women, recounting a history trauma with its wars, racism, alcohol/drug abuse, children’s welfare, residential schools, abuse, and mental health. Yet, it gives a powerful voice to the reconnection with ancestors, their land and their essence as seed keepers, making it a five-star must read rating.
March 6, 2021
My review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/review-th...
It's hard to think of a more literally or symbolically powerful object than a seed — a bond to the past, a source of sustenance in the present, and a promise for the future, a seed is physically tiny but enduring beyond measure.
In her moving and monumental debut novel, "The Seed Keeper," author Diane Wilson uses both the concept and the reality of seeds to explore the story of her Dakota protagonist Rosalie Iron Wing, the displaced daughter of a former science teacher and the widow of a white farmer grappling with her understanding of identity and community in the face of loss and trauma. "I was soothed by plants," Rosalie thinks early on, as a newlywed, as she establishes her own garden, "comforted by the long patience of trees."
Wilson, a Mdewakanton descendant enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation, currently lives in Shafer, Minn. She is also the author of the memoir "Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past," which won a Minnesota Book Award and was chosen for the One Minneapolis One Read program, as well as the nonfiction book "Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life." Significant to her focus in this latest book, she has served as the executive director for Dream of Wild Health and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
Epic in its sweep, "The Seed Keeper" uses a chorus of female voices — Rosalie, her great-aunt Darlene Kills Deer, her best friend Gaby Makepeace, and her ancestor Marie Blackbird who in 1862 saved her own mother's seeds — to recount the intergenerational narrative of the U.S. government's deliberate destruction of Indigenous ways of life with a focus on these Native families' connections to their traditions through the seeds they cherish and hand down. With that, Wilson juxtaposes the detrimental shifts in white mass agriculture — the "hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, new equipment" that exhaust the soil, harm the people working it, and pollute the rivers and groundwater.
When her father dies of a heart attack when she's only 12, rather than letting her live with her extended family, the authorities send Rosalie to grow up under the abusive and racist conditions of foster care. We meet her in 2002 at age 40 when the novel opens, as she thinks of herself as "an Indian farmer, the government's dream come true."
In the wake of her husband's death, she has felt called to return to the cabin of her birth, and from there, through her reflections, the reader experiences an interwoven tapestry of oppression and resistance.
The threat of disasters both natural and man-made, meteorological and industrial, loom over Wilson's indelible cast of major and minor characters, as does the pressing question: "Who are we if we can't even feed ourselves?"
Wilson opens her book with the poem "The Seeds Speak," in which the seeds declare, "We hold time in this space, we hold a thread to / infinity that reaches to the stars." This novel illuminates that expansiveness with elegance and gravity.
It's hard to think of a more literally or symbolically powerful object than a seed — a bond to the past, a source of sustenance in the present, and a promise for the future, a seed is physically tiny but enduring beyond measure.
In her moving and monumental debut novel, "The Seed Keeper," author Diane Wilson uses both the concept and the reality of seeds to explore the story of her Dakota protagonist Rosalie Iron Wing, the displaced daughter of a former science teacher and the widow of a white farmer grappling with her understanding of identity and community in the face of loss and trauma. "I was soothed by plants," Rosalie thinks early on, as a newlywed, as she establishes her own garden, "comforted by the long patience of trees."
Wilson, a Mdewakanton descendant enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation, currently lives in Shafer, Minn. She is also the author of the memoir "Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past," which won a Minnesota Book Award and was chosen for the One Minneapolis One Read program, as well as the nonfiction book "Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life." Significant to her focus in this latest book, she has served as the executive director for Dream of Wild Health and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
Epic in its sweep, "The Seed Keeper" uses a chorus of female voices — Rosalie, her great-aunt Darlene Kills Deer, her best friend Gaby Makepeace, and her ancestor Marie Blackbird who in 1862 saved her own mother's seeds — to recount the intergenerational narrative of the U.S. government's deliberate destruction of Indigenous ways of life with a focus on these Native families' connections to their traditions through the seeds they cherish and hand down. With that, Wilson juxtaposes the detrimental shifts in white mass agriculture — the "hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, new equipment" that exhaust the soil, harm the people working it, and pollute the rivers and groundwater.
When her father dies of a heart attack when she's only 12, rather than letting her live with her extended family, the authorities send Rosalie to grow up under the abusive and racist conditions of foster care. We meet her in 2002 at age 40 when the novel opens, as she thinks of herself as "an Indian farmer, the government's dream come true."
In the wake of her husband's death, she has felt called to return to the cabin of her birth, and from there, through her reflections, the reader experiences an interwoven tapestry of oppression and resistance.
The threat of disasters both natural and man-made, meteorological and industrial, loom over Wilson's indelible cast of major and minor characters, as does the pressing question: "Who are we if we can't even feed ourselves?"
Wilson opens her book with the poem "The Seeds Speak," in which the seeds declare, "We hold time in this space, we hold a thread to / infinity that reaches to the stars." This novel illuminates that expansiveness with elegance and gravity.
July 7, 2021
I was a stranger to my home, my family, myself. As my understanding grew, the edges of my control slowly started to unravel.
Rosalie Iron Wing is a woman on the brink, newly widowed and with a grown son, once close and now distant. With unknown forces driving her, she goes on a journey to the past to learn what kind of future she might have.
This book was perfection in every way with its beautiful writing, its important message, and with its emotional and environmentally impactful story. It was populated by wonderfully strong female characters who were inspiring in their struggles to not merely survive, but thrive like the seeds they preserved and planted over generations. But the planting of such seeds was not only in the earth, but in people’s minds about what is possible.
This book was also about preserving ones heritage and culture at all costs, even as it was stolen by others in yet another shameful chapter of US history in which the effects still reverberate today. And it’s about our relationship to the water, air, and soil that supports us, even as we have abandoned caring for the earth in return.
Do yourself a favor and read this book, and if you enjoy it, tell others about it. I hope it earns the attention and recognition it deserves and that it will find a place in many people’s hearts, as it has in mine.
Rosalie Iron Wing is a woman on the brink, newly widowed and with a grown son, once close and now distant. With unknown forces driving her, she goes on a journey to the past to learn what kind of future she might have.
This book was perfection in every way with its beautiful writing, its important message, and with its emotional and environmentally impactful story. It was populated by wonderfully strong female characters who were inspiring in their struggles to not merely survive, but thrive like the seeds they preserved and planted over generations. But the planting of such seeds was not only in the earth, but in people’s minds about what is possible.
This book was also about preserving ones heritage and culture at all costs, even as it was stolen by others in yet another shameful chapter of US history in which the effects still reverberate today. And it’s about our relationship to the water, air, and soil that supports us, even as we have abandoned caring for the earth in return.
Do yourself a favor and read this book, and if you enjoy it, tell others about it. I hope it earns the attention and recognition it deserves and that it will find a place in many people’s hearts, as it has in mine.
November 2, 2021
Beautifully written story inspired by the aftermath of the 1862 US- Dakota war and the history of the indigenous tribes in Minnesota killed, imprisoned, or forcibly removed from their land and prevented from hunting or planting, left unable to sustain or protect themselves or their families leaving a legacy of badly broken, fragmented families. The story centers around a descendent of one of the tribes, Rosalie.
It was at times heartbreaking but still hopeful weaving throughout her story the legend of the Seed Keepers and the preservation of land and water in preserving their heritage and regaining the ability to sustain and heal themselves. The story is told mostly from Rosalie's perspective, the few chapters that were not are, I think, the weakest. But a definite 5 star unforgettable read for me. My intent was to only read a couple of pages but read the whole thing in one day, could not put it down. I also cried a lot. Its a story I won't soon forget.
Thanks to Doris at All D Books and Heidi at My Reading Life for recommending this through their Book Naturalist selection!
It was at times heartbreaking but still hopeful weaving throughout her story the legend of the Seed Keepers and the preservation of land and water in preserving their heritage and regaining the ability to sustain and heal themselves. The story is told mostly from Rosalie's perspective, the few chapters that were not are, I think, the weakest. But a definite 5 star unforgettable read for me. My intent was to only read a couple of pages but read the whole thing in one day, could not put it down. I also cried a lot. Its a story I won't soon forget.
Thanks to Doris at All D Books and Heidi at My Reading Life for recommending this through their Book Naturalist selection!
March 8, 2021
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Quick take: one of the most beautiful books I've read in years.
This eco-feminist multi-generational saga taught me so much about the history of the Dakota tribe, their sacred seed-keeping rituals, and the numerous hardships they endured. Woven into multiple timelines to create a poetic, heart-breaking, and quietly hopeful story, this novel blurs the lines between literary fiction and nonfiction in a way that haunts me. Since reading it, I have been thinking more deeply about families and legacies.
I would recommend this to book clubs who are looking for more in-depth discussions than a big bestseller might provide and to readers interested in strong female characters, Indigenous histories, farming, or gardening.
Come chat with me about books here, too:
Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest
Quick take: one of the most beautiful books I've read in years.
This eco-feminist multi-generational saga taught me so much about the history of the Dakota tribe, their sacred seed-keeping rituals, and the numerous hardships they endured. Woven into multiple timelines to create a poetic, heart-breaking, and quietly hopeful story, this novel blurs the lines between literary fiction and nonfiction in a way that haunts me. Since reading it, I have been thinking more deeply about families and legacies.
I would recommend this to book clubs who are looking for more in-depth discussions than a big bestseller might provide and to readers interested in strong female characters, Indigenous histories, farming, or gardening.
Come chat with me about books here, too:
Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest
April 11, 2021
This isn't bad...but it does promise more than it delivers. Certainly, the premise left me with high expectations. Love the idea of someone finding a connection with family through saved seeds, bravo! Loved all of the gardening lessons and trials. In a fluky parallel, a recently discovered cousin just mailed 'seeds from the old country', inspiring a powerful sense of family history, and with that, I could relate even more to the joy of having family seeds in hand along with the hope that they might grow.
While the overall plot is appealing, the execution feels unfinished, maybe a little rushed to market, feels like it needs a little more time, more polish, and consideration. The characters are all interesting, yet there was a strong feeling for me that that the author doesn't expect the reader to understand much and resorts to explaining, with more telling over showing.
While the overall plot is appealing, the execution feels unfinished, maybe a little rushed to market, feels like it needs a little more time, more polish, and consideration. The characters are all interesting, yet there was a strong feeling for me that that the author doesn't expect the reader to understand much and resorts to explaining, with more telling over showing.
August 13, 2021
Heartbreaking and beautiful.
March 7, 2021
“I studied the patience of the red oak so perfectly formed over many years, as she endured the cold. In the fall, she prepared by pulling the energy of sunlight belowground, to be stored in her roots, much as I preserved the harvest from my garden. Through a season that seems too cold for anything to survive, the tree simply waits, still growing inside, and dreams of spring. Without fully understanding yet why I had come back, I began to think it was for this, for the slow return of a language I once knew. The language of this place.”
I need to say from the outset, that I am not Dakhota. The history in this book is not my history. Even histories of boarding schools vary between Dakhota and Ojibwe people because we were not exiled from our homes. Still, this book felt like a call to those parts of me that still need to heal from trauma inflicted through colonialism. I love this book with my whole heart.
Diane Wilson’s The Seed Keeper is honestly one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Filled with loving descriptions of prairie lands, of woods, of rivers, of gardens growing in a midwestern summer, I felt the call of that landscape. I could envision the heat, the power of storms, the coldness of a winter in what is now that state of Minnesota.
Following a nonlinear (though sometimes quite linear) timeline, we follow Roaslie Iron Wing, a Dakhota woman who is reeling from compounded loss. She was taken from her family and community as a child, raised in a foster home where she felt alone and unwanted, left to fend for herself and find a way to survive a world that holds onto anti-Indigenous hostility. Important to this story is how her family survived the US-Dakhota War of 1862 and boarding schools, though not without the scars of intergenerational trauma.
We see Rosalie return home to her family’s land and we watch as she rebuilds connections to a family she didn’t know had sought her out for years and to a community she didn’t feel she belonged to. This story is also about rebuilding and protecting Dakhota connections to lands, to trees, waters, and plants. It’s a novel about coming home, about healing even if the path isn’t entirely clear, and about caring for future generations.
The most stunning parts of this novel demonstrate the intimacy and love Dakhota women have with seeds that sustain their families and Dakhota culture. Wilson beautifully demonstrates how important seeds are to everything else, how keeping and caring for seeds and the earth they grow in is a practiced act of survival for Indigenous peoples.
I was at a talk Wilson gave a couple of years ago and she talked about this book, about how there are stories of Dakhota women carrying their seeds with them to Fort Snelling, where they were incarcerated after the US-Dakhota War, and to Crow Creek and Santee after Dakhota people were legally and physically exiled from their homelands. She talked about how Dakhota women would sew seeds into the hems of their skirts. It was at that moment I knew this book was going to be such an essential literary contribution. Dakhota history is not easy and Wilson reminds us of this consistently, but there is strength and beauty and love in Dakhota survival as evidenced through protection of such seeds themselves.
CW: death of a parent, terminal illness, suicide, suicidal thoughts, racism, alcoholism, mentions of drug use, child abuse, child death, inference of sexual assault
I need to say from the outset, that I am not Dakhota. The history in this book is not my history. Even histories of boarding schools vary between Dakhota and Ojibwe people because we were not exiled from our homes. Still, this book felt like a call to those parts of me that still need to heal from trauma inflicted through colonialism. I love this book with my whole heart.
Diane Wilson’s The Seed Keeper is honestly one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Filled with loving descriptions of prairie lands, of woods, of rivers, of gardens growing in a midwestern summer, I felt the call of that landscape. I could envision the heat, the power of storms, the coldness of a winter in what is now that state of Minnesota.
Following a nonlinear (though sometimes quite linear) timeline, we follow Roaslie Iron Wing, a Dakhota woman who is reeling from compounded loss. She was taken from her family and community as a child, raised in a foster home where she felt alone and unwanted, left to fend for herself and find a way to survive a world that holds onto anti-Indigenous hostility. Important to this story is how her family survived the US-Dakhota War of 1862 and boarding schools, though not without the scars of intergenerational trauma.
We see Rosalie return home to her family’s land and we watch as she rebuilds connections to a family she didn’t know had sought her out for years and to a community she didn’t feel she belonged to. This story is also about rebuilding and protecting Dakhota connections to lands, to trees, waters, and plants. It’s a novel about coming home, about healing even if the path isn’t entirely clear, and about caring for future generations.
The most stunning parts of this novel demonstrate the intimacy and love Dakhota women have with seeds that sustain their families and Dakhota culture. Wilson beautifully demonstrates how important seeds are to everything else, how keeping and caring for seeds and the earth they grow in is a practiced act of survival for Indigenous peoples.
I was at a talk Wilson gave a couple of years ago and she talked about this book, about how there are stories of Dakhota women carrying their seeds with them to Fort Snelling, where they were incarcerated after the US-Dakhota War, and to Crow Creek and Santee after Dakhota people were legally and physically exiled from their homelands. She talked about how Dakhota women would sew seeds into the hems of their skirts. It was at that moment I knew this book was going to be such an essential literary contribution. Dakhota history is not easy and Wilson reminds us of this consistently, but there is strength and beauty and love in Dakhota survival as evidenced through protection of such seeds themselves.
CW: death of a parent, terminal illness, suicide, suicidal thoughts, racism, alcoholism, mentions of drug use, child abuse, child death, inference of sexual assault
January 12, 2024
Opening with the poignant and lyrical voices of Dakota Native American heirloom seeds and centering Mother Earth, this novel gives reverence to generations of seed savers. The heroines in this coming-of-age tale have agency in spite of experiencing marginalization; they are reckoning with past injustices endured from foster care and family separations. Engaging and eloquently told with a deep sense of Minnesota across time from contemporary to settler colonial injustices in the 1860s. Winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award in Fiction, this is the author's fiction debut; Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendent, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation. While on the precipice between resilience and sorrow, I finished this novel feeling both sadness and gratitude.
coming-of-age debut nature social-justice storytelling
A story of vulnerable candor, facing grief and transitions with sweet and sentimental memories interspersed with a sense of Minnesota wilderness. I appreciate this story centering Mother Earth, Dakota heritage, truth-telling of injustices Dakota people have endured and survived.
I'll be revisiting publisher Milkweed's web page to muse further.
https://milkweed.org/book/the-seed-ke...
coming-of-age debut nature social-justice storytelling
A story of vulnerable candor, facing grief and transitions with sweet and sentimental memories interspersed with a sense of Minnesota wilderness. I appreciate this story centering Mother Earth, Dakota heritage, truth-telling of injustices Dakota people have endured and survived.
I'll be revisiting publisher Milkweed's web page to muse further.
https://milkweed.org/book/the-seed-ke...
September 2, 2022
A 2021 staff favorite recommended by Jo (5 stars) and Andrea (4 stars). Read Andrea's review at the Cook Memorial Public Library blog, Shelf Life: https://shelflife.cooklib.org/2021/07...
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore...
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore...
November 30, 2021
(#RavenReadsAmbassador @raven_reads)
The Seed keeper by Diane Wilson was featured in the Summer Raven Reads box and it was the perfect choice for the season. It’s one of those books I might have procrastinated reading (as I do with most books on my TBR), so I’m immensely grateful to have had this push to read it right away. The story is so engaging and heartbreaking. Wilson wrote wonderful characters full of depth that I cared for. I also appreciated the nuance within Wilson’s writing and the way she used a non-linear storytelling structure to create a full picture.
Rosalie’s journey begins after her father’s death and placement in foster care. That disconnect is carried throughout her whole life and affects her relationships with everyone around her, including her son. The book shows us the causes and direct effects of intergenerational trauma, draws the parallel between boarding schools and the foster care system, and an Indigenous worldview as it relates to seeds & the land. The story might be fictional, but the topics within are very real issues today. Especially relevant is the colonization and capitalism of seeds and farming by chemical companies. There is a disconnect from the land, no reciprocity, and it is hurting all of us.
I highly recommend this book for everyone. It’s an eye opening reading experience, covering a topic that isn’t talked about enough in the US. I’d also like to thank @milkweed for sending me a copy for review initially.
CW: boarding schools, suicidal thoughts, cutting, alcoholism, foster care, racism
The Seed keeper by Diane Wilson was featured in the Summer Raven Reads box and it was the perfect choice for the season. It’s one of those books I might have procrastinated reading (as I do with most books on my TBR), so I’m immensely grateful to have had this push to read it right away. The story is so engaging and heartbreaking. Wilson wrote wonderful characters full of depth that I cared for. I also appreciated the nuance within Wilson’s writing and the way she used a non-linear storytelling structure to create a full picture.
Rosalie’s journey begins after her father’s death and placement in foster care. That disconnect is carried throughout her whole life and affects her relationships with everyone around her, including her son. The book shows us the causes and direct effects of intergenerational trauma, draws the parallel between boarding schools and the foster care system, and an Indigenous worldview as it relates to seeds & the land. The story might be fictional, but the topics within are very real issues today. Especially relevant is the colonization and capitalism of seeds and farming by chemical companies. There is a disconnect from the land, no reciprocity, and it is hurting all of us.
I highly recommend this book for everyone. It’s an eye opening reading experience, covering a topic that isn’t talked about enough in the US. I’d also like to thank @milkweed for sending me a copy for review initially.
CW: boarding schools, suicidal thoughts, cutting, alcoholism, foster care, racism
January 2, 2022
Rosalie Iron Wing is raised in foster homes after the death of her father who taught her about the Dakota people and the natural world. As her time in foster care ends, she marries a white man and spends decades on their farm raising their son.
Years later, Rosalie is a grieving widow who chooses to return to her childhood home, leaving behind the farm that a chemical company has preyed upon with engineered seeds.
In the midst of learning about her ancestors and remaining family, Rosalie becomes a seed keeper and readers learn the story of a long line of women with souls of iron; both the strength and fragility of the Dakota people and their traditions; and the generational trauma of boarding schools.
The Seed Keeper is a powerful story of four women and the seeds linking them to one another and to nature.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
Years later, Rosalie is a grieving widow who chooses to return to her childhood home, leaving behind the farm that a chemical company has preyed upon with engineered seeds.
In the midst of learning about her ancestors and remaining family, Rosalie becomes a seed keeper and readers learn the story of a long line of women with souls of iron; both the strength and fragility of the Dakota people and their traditions; and the generational trauma of boarding schools.
The Seed Keeper is a powerful story of four women and the seeds linking them to one another and to nature.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
March 31, 2022
Audiobook rating: 3*
Story rating 4*
I feel as though I would have appreciated this much more if I had read it in print. I found the narration to be irritating.
Some parts were a beautiful reflection upon the relationship between humans and plants. I also loved the parts which looked at Rosalie's family history and intergenerational trauma. Although occasionally it felt as though I was reading an explanation of native history simplified for white people.
I found the parts about Rosalie's relationship with her white husband and his farming methods to be less compelling and for me dragged quite a bit but once the narrative moved away from the farm it picked up a lot and all came together by the end.
Story rating 4*
I feel as though I would have appreciated this much more if I had read it in print. I found the narration to be irritating.
Some parts were a beautiful reflection upon the relationship between humans and plants. I also loved the parts which looked at Rosalie's family history and intergenerational trauma. Although occasionally it felt as though I was reading an explanation of native history simplified for white people.
I found the parts about Rosalie's relationship with her white husband and his farming methods to be less compelling and for me dragged quite a bit but once the narrative moved away from the farm it picked up a lot and all came together by the end.
September 19, 2021
I’d give this 4.5 stars. I loved the writing style, story; and messages. The themes were pretty in-your-face, but still lovely. I’ll be interested to follow Ms Wilson as she creates future fictional works to see if she hones in on the metaphorical poetry of writing to not be quite as overt. But, I still think this is an important work; especially as we think about Line 3 pipeline, Standing Rock, and the history of Minnesota vs the sliver of white history that’s actually taught to us. We can do better and we can learn so much from the resilience and sanctuary of our indigenous peoples.
August 17, 2023
The only thing poorer than the main characters is the writing.
July 11, 2021
“The seeds reconnected me with my grandmothers, and even my mother… “Here in these woods, I felt as if I belonged once again to my family, to my people.” P. 342
I had a hard time connecting with this story initially, however, I am so glad that I kept reading. This story was inspired by the US-Dakhota War and the relocation of the Dakhota people in 1863. Given the women had insufficient time to prepare for those forced removal, they sewed seeds in their garments in order to plant crops in the next season. They faced a brutal winter as well as disease and starvation. These resilient women had the foresight to know the value of these seeds for food and survival, protecting the seeds so they could be passed from one generation to another.
The author did a nice job of interweaving fact with fiction in telling the story of Rosalie Iron Wing, her ancestors and other strong women who protected their families and their cultures and traditions.
I had a hard time connecting with this story initially, however, I am so glad that I kept reading. This story was inspired by the US-Dakhota War and the relocation of the Dakhota people in 1863. Given the women had insufficient time to prepare for those forced removal, they sewed seeds in their garments in order to plant crops in the next season. They faced a brutal winter as well as disease and starvation. These resilient women had the foresight to know the value of these seeds for food and survival, protecting the seeds so they could be passed from one generation to another.
The author did a nice job of interweaving fact with fiction in telling the story of Rosalie Iron Wing, her ancestors and other strong women who protected their families and their cultures and traditions.
July 31, 2021
The Seed Keeper tells the story of the indigenous Dakhota. It moves back and forth in history while keeping the single thread that ties all of the generations together—the seeds. As I read the book, I felt that these tiny life-giving and life-sustaining miracles were symbolic of a way of life, one that had formed a bond between the land and its people.
The author weaves together a tale of injustices—land stolen, children taken away for re-education and religious inculcation by the European Christians, discrimination on the basis of skin color. And yet the storehouse of knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation continues to guide the descendants of those earlier people.
Well written. Heart-breaking. Heart-warming.
The author weaves together a tale of injustices—land stolen, children taken away for re-education and religious inculcation by the European Christians, discrimination on the basis of skin color. And yet the storehouse of knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation continues to guide the descendants of those earlier people.
Well written. Heart-breaking. Heart-warming.
August 4, 2022
I really wanted to enjoy this book but it did not keep my interest in the writing or story telling. I appreciate the story since it is about a dark time in MN history and the impact of ripping apart Native American families and sending children to boarding school.
The story was just very slow to me.
The story was just very slow to me.
December 26, 2020
Reply beautiful and heart wrenching story about the situations that wrenched apart indigenous families and the threads connecting family. I highly recommend.
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