Holding Up the Earth

It has been eight years since Hope’s mom died in a car accident. Eight years of shuffling from foster home to foster home. Eight years of trying to hold on to the memories that tether her to her mother. Now Sarah, Hope’s newest foster mom, has taken her from Minneapolis to spend the summer on the Nebraska farm where Sarah grew up. Hope is set adrift, anchored only by her ever-present and memory-heavy backpack. Accustomed to the clamor of city life, Hope is at first unsettled by the silence that descends over the farm each night. But listening deeply, she begins to hear the quiet: the crickets’ chirp, the windsong, the steady in and out of her own breath. Soon the silence is replaced by voices, like echoes sounding across time — the voices of girls who inhabited the old farmhouse before her. Reluctantly, Hope begins to stretch down roots in the earth and accept this new family as her own.

But as Hope listens to the echoes of the past, what will she learn about the girls who came before her, and about herself?

A Heartfelt Foster Care Story: Fourteen-year-old Hope has spent eight years adrift. Anchored only by a backpack full of memories, she’s not looking for another home—until she starts to hear the whispers of the past. Multiple Timelines: Through old letters and a diary, Hope uncovers the lives of four other girls who lived on the farm, from a pioneer in 1869 to a teen facing the Cold War in the 1960s. An Immersive Farm Setting: From the quiet of the Nebraska prairie to the secrets buried in the meadow, the farm becomes a character in itself, a place where generations of girls have found their strength. A Poignant Coming of Age Journey: A beautifully written, emotional story about loss, learning to trust, and discovering that family can be found in the most unexpected places and times.