“In chapters that shift among the perspectives of four Dakhóta women—including Rosalie’s great-aunt, who grew plants because the seeds in her pocket were ‘all that’s left of my family’—Wilson tracks Rosalie’s attempts to understand her family and her roots, and considers how memory cultivates a sense of connection to the land.”

"Through the voices of . . . women from past and present, Wilson deepens the reader's understanding of what loss of language and culture has done to Indigenous people. In depicting the way Rosalie's ancestor Marie Blackbird and other women sew seeds into their clothing as the war breaks out, Wilson shows these women's relationship to and reverence for the land: a sharp contrast to 'a country that destroys its soil,' using methods of modern agriculture and its effects upon waterways. A thought-provoking and engaging read." 

“[The Seed Keeper] is a gorgeous and moving work of fiction with memorable characters that will stay in your heart and body for a long time.”

“Spend a long afternoon with this beautiful, immersive novel. It traces Rosalie Iron Wing’s family history through four generations of women who have loved, lost, and fought to retain their Dakota culture and the seeds that sustain them.”

“After her father doesn’t return from checking his traps near their home, Rosalie Iron Wing, a Dakota girl who’s grown up surrounded by the woods and stories of plants, is sent to live with a foster family. Decades later, widowed and grieving, she returns to her childhood home to confront the past and find identity and community—and a cache of seeds, passed down from one generation of women to the next.”

“[Wilson] expertly weaves history and fiction to show how colonialism has long been a driver of environmental destruction. But the novel is also celebratory, a powerful and compelling ode to the resilience and wisdom of Indigenous cultures.”

“[A] moving and monumental debut novel . . . 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.”

“Like watching a garden grow from seed to harvest, this novel quietly unfolds to tell the story of several generations of Dakhóta women and the land that connects them.”

“A powerful story recounting the attempted genocide of Indigenous people in America — and how they continue to survive.”

“Wilson offers finely wrought descriptions of the natural world, as the voice of the seeds provides connective threads to the stories of her people. This powerful work achieves a deep resonance often lacking from activist novels, and makes a powerful statement along the way.”

“[Diane Wilson] has lured us in with her upcoming novel about generations of Dakota women tasked with preserving their culture's traditions, namely a cache of seeds, against nasty and unscrupulous threats from the modern world.”

“In [Wilson’s] first novel, the writing sings in compact, careful sentences, lending a timelessness to the narrative and making it clear that this compelling story is not just about these characters but also about culture, landscape and how we can—and often cannot—understand each other. Haunting and beautiful, the seeds and words of this novel will find their way into your world, however far from the Dakhóta lands that might be.”