November 5, 2026, Seward Folly Staff

Dan Walker’s new novel, “Briar Hopper,” begins with a story his mother told him about growing up during the Great Depression. As a teenager, she was sent away for the summer to work as a nanny. Walker took that memory, added what he knew of his family’s history, and imagined what might happen if a girl in her position discovered her father had another family in addition to her own.

The result is a coming-of-age novel about a daughter’s changing view of her parents. At the start, she admires her father and feels little warmth toward her stern mother. She learns that her father is a bigamist. Her decision to find and confront him sends the story in a new direction — and forces her to reconsider what she thought she knew about both parents.

In a recent interview in Seward, where he lives, Walker was clear about the boundary between memory and fiction. His mother’s summer job was real, as were aspects of the family history that shaped the novel. The plot is his invention. That distinction gives “Briar Hopper” room to explore more than one family’s past: it’s also a story about how little children may understand of the adults they love.

The Depression-era setting matters. Walker draws on a time when families struggling to make ends meet sometimes sent teenagers to work elsewhere. His mother carried the habits of that period into later life. When Walker showed an interest in cooking, she encouraged him to become a chef: if another depression came, she told him, he’d always be able to eat, even if he didn’t get paid.

The title carries a family memory, too. Walker said “briar hopper” was once a derogatory term for country people from Kentucky who moved into southern Ohio. His father used it affectionately for his mother when they were dating. Later, she became known to some in Seward as Briar Walker. Giving the novel that name is Walker’s tribute to her.

“Briar Hopper” also takes on prejudice. Walker described racism as a way for people with little power to find someone they could look down on. In the novel, the young protagonist is warned not to spend too much time talking to a Black maid who works next door. It’s one of the ways the girl encounters the rules of the place she’s been sent to — and begins to see how those rules shape people’s lives.

This is Walker’s fifth published book. His earlier work includes “Secondhand Summer” and “Letters from Happy Valley: Memories of an Alaska Homesteader’s Son.”

“Briar Hopper” marks a shift: its central character is a young girl, and its story unfolds in Ohio rather than Alaska. Walker also follows the father in alternating chapters, giving readers a view of the man his daughter sets out to confront. He said adding that perspective required a substantial rewrite.

Walker describes the book as one that may feel like a young-adult novel but has plenty for adult readers. That seems fitting for a story rooted in a teenager’s experience, yet concerned with questions that can take a lifetime to sort out: what we inherit from our families, what we misunderstand about them, and what changes when we learn the truth.

“Briar Hopper” is approximately 280 pages. Walker said the novel is available for preorder on Amazon and is expected to be sold locally at Dreamland Books and the Seward Community Library Museum.

Walker is planning a book signing on November 24, 6 – 8 p.m. at the Library. You can also visit his site at: dlwalkerak.com