Betty Adelman Author Talk

Join us to celebrate Betty Adelman's first book, Chasing Lewis's Monkeyflower: The Amazing Afterlife of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's Wild Plants, set to release February 17th. You may know her as the owner of Heritage Flower Farm here in Mukwonago, but you won't want to miss the chance to hear her talk about her journey to becoming a published author!

Attendees can expect to learn about the inspiration for the book, gain an understanding of the research that went into it, discover a particularly interesting part of the book, and brush elbows with Mukwonago's latest author. We hope to see you there!

Review of Chasing Lewis's Monkeyflower from the American Library Association:

Adelman begins by providing a detailed recounting of the events of the Lewis and Clark expedition, with a focus on Lewis’ time spent methodically observing, collecting, and pressing plant specimens. Lewis intended to write a book about the plants gathered on the expedition with the help of botanists and illustrators but died before that could happen. The remainder of Adelman's narrative tracks the plant specimens through history, how they were split up after Lewis’ death—many of them stolen for profit, private collections, or notoriety—and describes the more recent efforts to reunite them. The search continues, as nearly two dozen of the specimens remain missing, including Lewis’ monkeyflower. This fascinating saga is a mix of intriguing profiles of key botanists of the time and descriptions of the research it took to try and reunite the collection. The book concludes with an epilogue that focuses on 15 “garden-worthy” plants from the expedition that readers can grow as well as a list of all the plants collected or seen on the expedition. A compelling mystery that will appeal to readers with an interest in botany and history.