For classroom use: Jesse’s Seed by Sam Pakan
If you or colleagues in your department are in need of a novel for classroom use with a spiritual bent that lends itself to traditional literary analysis, may we recommend JESSE’S SEED? Firmly established within the Southern literary tradition, JESSE’S SEED deals with timeless themes in a flowing narrative. In it, a young rancher escapes a loveless marriage by joining the Army Air Corps early in WWII. He is shot down over Belgium, falls in love with a beautiful partisan and is aided by his nemesis, a German interrogator, in saving the girl’s life.
Perpetually under the control of others, David Dremmer seems incapable of taking charge of his life. His father’s one remaining joy is seeing him fail, and his Aunt Naomi seems convinced she knows what’s best for him.
The one delight in David’s life is his horse, a stallion brought to his father’s ranch as an unbroken colt. Dancer yields to the bridle and accepts David’s love. In surrendering his desires, Dancer obviously gains a contentment that grows as their bond deepens.
There’s also Delores, a young woman who attaches herself to David at the funeral of his cousin killed at Pearl Harbor. Delores and David spend a few uncomfortable days together—and one disturbing night. Weeks later, when she tells David she’s pregnant with his child, he agrees to marry her but escapes the tenuous union and his father’s disappointment by enlisting in the Army Air Corps.
His choices prove fateful. His B-17 is shot down over Belgium. After spending a few weeks protected by the Belgian Underground, he falls into the hands of the Nazis, and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues as Second Lieutenant David Dremmer wages a private war with the Luftwaffe, the Wehrmacht, and his own conscience to save the life of a beautiful Resistance operative.
In time, David grasps precisely what Dancer has learned. Enduring the horrors of the air war over Europe and then the privations of internment as a German prisoner of war, he finds that only when he relinquishes his will to something greater is his life worth living. When he learns that truth exists, that right and wrong are more than mere contrivances of the powerful, his heart changes. With the decision to put his life on the line for another, he gains a certainty he’s always lacked and a conviction that transforms him into the man he’s longed to be. It’s then he discovers that the weakness that has kept him from his dreams is, in fact, the key to becoming who he was born to be.
An award-winning, lyrical novel, Jesse’s Seed explores the power of choice, finality, love, and redemption that will make your student’s semester with you one they will remember for years to come.
Read the full synopsis of Jesse’s Seed here:
http://sampakan.com/home/synopsis-for-instructors
The first three chapters are linked at the end of the above link, and a free electronic or print review copy is available upon request. Bulk pricing is also available.
Please feel free to forward to any colleagues who would enjoy using Jesse’s Seed in their classroom, and let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Maryann Spikes, Operations Manager
Athanatos Publishing Group Full Catalog
m.spikes@athanatosministries.org
Feb. 18: Jesse’s Seed signing at Shamrock Public Library
Feb. 25: Jesse’s Seed signing and presentation at Collingsworth Library