Eldorado Iowa

The year is 1875 and a young physicians wife Sarah Archer is settling into a new life on the Iowa frontier expecting her first child. A survivor of the Civil War she wrestles with troubling memories of her childhood on her familys Alabama plantation. As Sarah struggles amid anger love and the inherited lies of ladyhood she realizes that her greatest struggle is within herself.Revolving around the mysterious disappearance of Seth the enslaved boy Sarah loved Eldorado Iowa braids scenes of Sarahs childhood on the plantation before and during the war with her present life on the Midwestern frontier the accidents of small-town life and the daily textures of marriage domesticity and grace. Exploring the ties of love anger silence and misunderstanding Eldorado Iowa explores how we grow through and beyond what we think we know of our pasts in order to discover our true homes our true lives and our true paths into the future.AMY WELDON (PhD University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is professor of English at Luther College in Decorah Iowa. She is the author of The Hands-On Life: How to Wake Yourself Up and Save the World and The Writers Eye: Observation and Inspiration for Creative Writers.