what remains
A mother bear. A park interpreter. Two losses, centuries apart, on the same stretch of Michigan shore.
Long ago, Waubun leads her two cubs into Lake Michigan to escape a forest fire. Sixty miles of open water. Then the storm. She reaches the far shore alone, and her long vigil on the dune becomes the legend that gave Sleeping Bear its name.
Today, Janet tells Waubun’s story to visitors at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. She traded a banking career for the dunes. She has lost her job and gone through a divorce. What she never mentions is Ben, the son who lived for two days.
Her friend Mimi helps Janet by getting her out in nature and providing the kind of wisdom only dear friends can. Then a memoir class they both take starts teaching her to journal. Prompt by prompt, Janet moves closer to the name she has kept silent.
Told in alternating storylines, the two narratives echo each other without ever meeting. Both ask the same question: After loss, what remains worthy of your attention, even now?
Short, honest, and rooted in place, What Remains blends nature writing, an ageless Anishinaabe legend, and the slow work of grief. It respects how long loss lasts and shows how a life gets rebuilt anyway.
ISBN 979-8-9821942-1-3 (softcover)
ISBN 979-8-9821942-0-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 979-8-9821942-2-0 (ebook)
What readers are saying
Jeff Smith - Journalist and Author of Becoming Amish
"How do we move beyond grief to live fully, while also endlessly honoring one we have lost? In author Bill Palladino's parable-like narrative, a mom who seeks a way forward turns to the revered Indigenous faith story of Sleeping Bear for insight and perspective.”
Jennifer Nix, journalist, essayist, and producer of the Emmy Award-winning film, Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy
“So many of us today carry crushing personal and collective grief. There can seem to be no path out of the darkness and isolation. This brave and beautiful reimagining of the ancient Anishinaabe story of the Sleeping Bear will wend its way into your heart, hold space for the pain, and help you learn how to carry it differently. This book surprised and inspired me, and offers a vision of how to rise and keep our circle from breaking.”
Anne-Marie Oomen, Michigan Author for 2024, is co-author of the award-winning Great Lakes Mermaid series.
"In refreshingly lucid prose, Bill Palladino braids together the beloved Odawa tale of the Sleeping Bear, a series of challenging writing assignments, a family broken by silence, and a life journey that will ring true for readers seeking insight into the arc of grief. Bill's tale will also weave your heart into this gentle fiction that honors both transformation and quiet resolution. I'm so glad this book is in the world."
Bob Downes - Best-selling author of Raw Deal
"With What Remains, author Bill Palladino gives us a deep dive into the natural world and the transcendence of grief through the Odawa legend of the Sleeping Bear. With insights into natural history, the geology of the Great Lakes, Native wisdom, and the healing currents of time, Palladino offers a parable that is both informative and revelatory.”