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THE MEMORY GARDENER

One of our recommended books is The Memory Gardener by Meg Donohue

An enchanting tale of the power of memory and the nourishing magic of gardens from the USA TODAY bestselling author of the “sparkling, witty” (Katie Crouch, New York Times bestselling author) How to Eat a Cupcake.

Lucy Barnes is a gardener with an uncanny ability to know exactly which scent among her flowers will illuminate to a person a key from their past that might change their future. Sadly, after a tragedy ten years ago, she no longer uses her gift and has fled her hometown.

But six months after her mother’s death,

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POTOMAC FEVER

One of our recommended books is Potomac Fever by Charlotte Taylor Fryar

An impassioned meditation on American identity and its ebb and flow through the Capital’s great waterway

As she walks the length of the Potomac River, clambering up its banks and sounding its depths, Charlotte Taylor Fryar examines the geography and ecology of Washington, D.C. with all manner of flora and fauna as her witness. The ecological traces of human inhabitancy provide her with imaginative access into America’s past, for her true subject is the origin of our splintered nation and racially divided capital.

From the gentrified neighborhood of Shaw to George Washington’s slave labor camp at Mount Vernon,

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GOOD NATURE

One of our recommended books is Good Nature by Kathy Willis

A ground-breaking investigation into newly discovered evidence showing that remarkable things happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses connect with the natural world.

We all take for granted the idea that being in nature makes us feel better. But if you were a skeptical scientist–or indeed any kind of skeptic–who wanted hard scientific evidence for this idea, where would you look? And how would that evidence be gathered?

It wasn’t until Dr. Kathy Willis was asked to contribute to an international project looking for the societal benefits we gain from plants that she stumbled across a study that radically changed the way she saw the natural world.

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THE SEED KEEPER

One of our recommended books is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

Minnesota Book Award Winner, Book Riot and Ms. Magazine Best Book of the Year

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 grew up in the woods with her father until one morning he didn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to foster care—where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.

Many years later,

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THE LAST WHALER

One of our recommended books is The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves

The Last Whaler is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive under extreme conditions. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them back to their home in southern Norway. Beyond enduring the Arctic winter’ s twenty-four-hour night, the couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold as well as Astrid’ s unexpected pregnancy. The Last Whaler concerns the impact of humans on pristine environments,

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THE WISDOM OF THE WILLOW

One of our recommended books is The Wisdom of the Willow by Nancy Chadwick

In the backyard of Margaret and Joe Dowling’s new house in the north suburbs of Chicago, Joe plants a young willow tree as a symbol of home, belonging, and growth. As the years pass, the willow becomes a place for Margaret to share life’s wisdom with their four young daughters.

Years after leaving the nest, now in their early forties, the Dowling women find themselves faced with changes that will define their lives. Debra, the oldest, is shattered when she is asked for a divorce. Rose, who has long hidden her true self, finally begins to evaluate her pattern of being in uncommitted relationships.

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