“Love your seeds as you love your children, and the people will survive.” I’ve never read a native story before- an embarrassing thing for me to admit. Taking the reader through Rosalie’s life, not just her lifetime, Wilson explores the trauma and hash realities of native people. She writes about the beauty of the Earth so poetically and forces you to reflect on all the ways you’ve contributed to the destroying of the land we live on, and for most of us, stole. Wilson shares the traditions and seeds of the Dakhóta people and the way spirits and traditions and people are intertwined through harvests and trust in other species in our communities. It’s also a Dakóta family story, showing the ways Rosalie carries generations of family hardship and is unavoidably passing it along to future generations, while simultaneously carrying and passing the strength and wisdom from her ancestors. Who can blame for marrying a white farmer when she’s just trying to put a roof over her head, but who suffers the internal and external implications of that choice? How are generations and languages lost? Is she responsible for the seeds not planted and the stories left untold and how can she relearn them The Seed Keeper is a new favorite and I couldn’t recommend it enough.