Seed

by Lisa Heathfield

Overview

All that Pearl knows can be encapsulated in one word: Seed. It is the isolated community that she was born into. It is the land that she sows and reaps. It is the center of her family and everything that means home. And it is all kept under the watchful eye of Papa S.

At fifteen years old, Pearl is finally old enough to be chosen as Papa S.'s companion. She feels excitement . . . and surprising trepidation that she cannot explain. The arrival of a new family into the Seed community—particularly the teenage son, Ellis—only complicates the life and lifestyle that Pearl has depended upon as safe and constant. Ellis is compelling, charming, and worldly, and he seems to have a lot of answers to questions Pearl has never thought to ask. But as Pearl digs to the roots of the truth, only she can decide what she will allow to come to the surface.

Lisa Heathfield's suspenseful, scintillating debut features a compelling voice that combines blithe naïveté, keen observation, and sincere emotion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762456369
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	03/10/2015
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,281,204
Lexile:	HL540L (what's this?)
File size:	582 KB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lisa Heathfield is a former secondary school English teacher, specializing in working with hearing-impaired children. Seed is her debut novel. She lives in Brighton, England, with her husband and three children.

Editorial Reviews

03/02/2015
In Heathfield's debut novel, 15-year-old Pearl leads a contented life in Seed, a bucolic, nature-worshipping commune. Though Pearl's naïve first-person narrative shows her complete trust in the cult leader, there are signs that something is wrong—as the book opens, Pearl is terrified when she is forced to spend the night in a dark underground chamber after getting her first period. When a family of new converts arrives, including Ellis, a skeptical teenage boy, Pearl initially resists Ellis's contention that life at Seed "is based on lies. And power. And fear.” But as events escalate—Ellis suffers a mysterious accident, and one of Pearl's loved ones goes through a dangerous pregnancy without modern medicine—Pearl and the other teenagers at Seed start to question their leader. Though Pearl is more spectator than actor at the horrific climax, her internal journey and growth show her to be far from passive. Well-developed secondary characters and Heathfield's willingness to do serious damage to central ones make this novel a powerful read. Ages 13–up. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Heathfield paints convincing portraits of an extremely naïve girl and of a cult from the inside. . . . An absorbing treatment of an ever interesting subject."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Seed will hold readers' attention as the story's mood slowly changes and the work builds to an ultimately stunning conclusion."
—School Library Journal

"[P]earl grows throughout in a realistic way, offering a look at what it's like to live with no knowledge of the outside world. . . . Interested readers will certainly be seeking out the sequel."
—Booklist

From the Publisher

Seed has an entrancing plot that entices the reader to keep turning the pages. The narrator portrays the inner workings of a cult well. While the characters are not easy to empathize with, their actions and beliefs are fascinating. Sometimes, though, their feelings can be hard to believe, lacking realistic causes. Compared to other books with cult themes, Seed holds its own. This book is good for those who want a darker read. Reviewer: Kara Eng, Teen Reviewer; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, February 2015 (Vol. 37, No. 6) - Kara Eng

Pearl has never been curious about the Outside. Life at Seed, the isolated community she was born into, is all she knows and all she wants. She worships Nature, just as she worships Papa S., the leader of Seed. She has no need for Outside people nor what they believe or know. Now that Pearl is a woman, her only wish, aside from secretly wishing to know which of the Seed women is her true mother, is to become Papa S.’s Companion; that is what all women at Seed want. When three visitors come to stay at Seed, though, with their tall tales of rocket ships and schoolbooks and their brazen behavior, Pearl starts to question whether Seed and everything about it is a lie. Seed is a glimpse into one version of living in an isolated community; it is a glimpse into a cult—their fears, denials, beliefs, and refusal to acclimate to the outside world. Much of the story is given over to Pearl’s very slow discovery and acceptance that Seed, Papa S., and the Kindred men are not what she believes them to be. Seed is an easy, quick read and at times suspenseful, but the overall storyline and resolution is anticlimactic, the characters are flat, and the plot twist is predictable. Several dark issues are heavily implied, so it would make a good book for sparking discussion. Reviewer: Jane Gov; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, February 2015 (Vol. 37, No. 6) - Jane Gov

Fifteen-year-old Pearl knows no other life than the one Seed offers. Living in a beautiful, secluded area, Pearl and seven others work the land and look to Kindred Smith for guidance. Pearl sometimes wonders about but never questions Nature or Papa S. In her innocence, she only looks forward to the time she can become Papa S’s Companion. But something happens to upset the harmony: a family of three from the Outside is taken in. What are these new feelings she experiences? Does Ellis have answers to questions Pearl doesn’t even know enough to ask? Is Papa S someone who cares about his charges on Seed, or does he actually have ulterior motives? In this eerily intriguing story, Heathfield successfully captures the highs of budding love and the devastating confusion resulting from the loss of innocence. Readers feel for Pearl as she tries to find her way while others actively try to shape her life. Reviewer: Bonita Herold; Ages 13 up.

Children's Literature - Bonita Herold

02/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—Seed is at the center of 15-year-old Pearl's life: it is the isolated family of which she is part, it is the house in which she lives, and it is the remote patch of land around that house where she sows and gathers crops for her family's sustenance. Pearl is happy at Seed. She does not often leave because according to Papa S., the leader of Pearl's family, Seed is pure and leaving risks contact with poisoned Outsiders who may taint Pearl's spiritual core. The teen knows Papa S. is truthful, but when three Outsiders unexpectedly join the family, the patriarch's word—and Pearl's entire reality—is challenged. Heathfield's debut novel is the first in a two-book series. Pearl's development over the course of the novel is realistic and relatable, and readers will become attached and even frustrated with the heroine. The smooth pacing and sophisticated yet age-appropriate style of the work lend credence to the story as it transforms the everyday activities of Seed into complex issues of physical and emotional abuse, budding self-esteem and increasing self-reliance, fear as a means of control, and belief as an expression of faith or as a means of deception. VERDICT Seed will hold readers' attention as the story's mood slowly changes and the work builds to an ultimately stunning conclusion.—Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University R. M. Cooper Library, South Carolina

School Library Journal

2015-01-20
Pearl has grown up inside a cult and knows little about the real world.Pearl experiences her first period at 15; it terrifies her, as she has been told nothing about it. Pearl believes everything she's told at Seed. She's mostly happy there as she follows the cult's leader, Papa S. She yearns to know the identity of her real mother, hoping it's Elizabeth, who's now heavily pregnant again. However, all babies belong to the cult, so Pearl has no way to be sure. Although the cult members go to the market in a nearby town to sell their produce, Papa S. has warned them of the dangers of Outside (some quite preposterous). But when Ellis reluctantly joins the cult with his vulnerable mother and younger sister, his frank remarks cause Pearl to wonder, to doubt and finally to contemplate escape. With Pearl's present-tense narration, Heathfield paints convincing portraits of an extremely naïve girl and of a cult from the inside, weaving in another narrative voice at the end of many chapters—perhaps Pearl's mother. The cult leader, rather like Jim Jones on a smaller scale, eventually takes all the women for himself and concocts bizarre punishments to keep the members submissive. Pearl's slow realization of the truth comes across as quite believable. An absorbing treatment of an ever interesting subject. (Fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Review