"Holding Up the Earth" by Dianne E. Gray

*From the book jacket:
"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 brought them 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."

This wonderful story brings together three generations of women: Hope, Sarah, and Sarah's mother Anna. But beyond the three women who share the Nebraska farmhouse, Hope learns of other women who braved settling the prairie; the pioneer girl whose father first farmed the land, the hired girl who left her family to help another. At first Hope is distracted by the slow pace and quiet of the old house, but she comes to cherish the times there and the way she feels connected to the women who helped form this place.

The quote at the start of the story explains the title: "This land is the house we have always lived in. The women, their bones are holding up the earth." --Linda Hogan, from "Calling Myself Home" Many generations of women, working together, holding up the earth.

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