Something Sacred Grows Here

A troubled Chicago physician sets off on an urgent road trip across the Plains to reach his dying father’s bedside. When he arrives on the impoverished Indian reservation he fled as a teen he discovers his dwindling family sick, the neglected hospital facing closure, and the tribe locked in a culture war with outside energy developers.

It’s not his fight, he thinks. Until he encounters a fierce young Lakota gang member, a sharp-tongued grandmother, and a former love caught in the crossfire.

Something Sacred Grows Here is a galloping ride through the rugged terrain of family, culture, and belonging, with a heart as wide open as the Great Plains (445 pages.)

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＂Following the path of Lakota story-telling, Nixa offers an understanding of life on Pine Ridge that reveals the tragic conditions and shameful U.S. treatment of people there while shining a light on their resilience and efforts to remember what life should really be all about.＂ -Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa), former Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College on Pine Ridge and author of Restoring the Kinship Worldview, Unlearning the Language of Conquest, et al.

＂You can’t fully understand until you’ve been there.＂ A phrase that resonates with anyone who has spent much time in ＂Indian Country＂. Jeff has been there, so he understands. This novel is filled with the nuances that are so prevalent among the Indigenous Peoples - people who struggle to keep one foot rooted in their history and cultural heritage/identity on the Reservation, while concurrently existing in the world of today’s mainstream society.... an incredible challenge as the two are diametrically opposed. Jeff’s novel is a window into this reality. It is a great read and I hope that many people will enjoy the story, but learn from it too.＂ --Paula Sibal, Volunteer Coordinator, Pine Ridge Reservation

All proceeds from this book are being donated to Re-Member, an independent non-profit organization on Pine Ridge Reservation serving members of the Oglala Lakota Nation through volunteer work, relationship building, and cultural exchange.

Jeff Nixa is the author of The Lost Art of Heart Navigation: A Modern Shaman’s Field Manual (Bear & Company, 2017.)