Book Review: The Daughter's Walk

The Daughter’s Walk (Waterbrook Press) by Jane Kirkpatrick is yet another example of Kirkpatrick’s mastery as a storyteller. Kirkpatrick, a recipient of many prestigious literary awards, is known for her meticulous attention to detail and superb characterization. She is the author of 20 books, 17 of which are historical novels. Kirkpatrick speaks with authority in her western-based books, having homesteaded with her husband on a remote ranch in Eastern Oregon.

A historical novel, The Daughter’s Walk begins in 1896. Helga Estby accepts a challenge to walk 3,500 miles from Spokane, Washington to New York City. Helga insists that her daughter Clara accompany her. Sponsored by the fashion industry, the trek is to be accomplished within seven months and will be rewarded the sum of $10,000, money that could save the family farm. The walk is intended to promote a new dress fashion and also to prove that women have stamina.

The story is told by the daughter, Clara, who is against the walk from the onset. She doesn’t share her mother’s sense of adventure and feels the plan dangerous, humiliating and foolish. Helga’s husband strongly disapproves of the venture, considering it irrational and irresponsible. The family has many children and the burden of keeping house is left to the older girls, leaving them afraid and resentful.

Helga has her own reasons for accepting this challenge, among them saving Clara from what she believes would be a terrible mistake. As the story unfolds, Clara learns things about her mother that affect her own existence and place in the family.

The trek is even more arduous than either expect. Hardships and disappointments abound. Things have not gone well on the home front either, and when they eventually return both Clara and her mother find their lives irrevocably changed.

Clara’s life journey continues. She finds the consequences of the walk have defined her, in both positive and negative ways.

The Daughter’s Walk is a fascinating study of the era and its people, particularly the Norwegian community and sense of family. Kirkpatrick’s thorough research and extraordinary writing has brought to life this true story that changed the lives of so many.

Book Review: An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick

Eighteen year-old Jessie Gaebele is making her way in a world obsessed with rigid propriety. Even at her young age, she’s made mistakes, has committed acts for which she must atone. Although she longs for her family, she remains miles away, working in her life’s vocation, photography.

The story weaves the lives of Jessie Gaebele and the married Fred Bauer, a former employer and the person responsible for her self-imposed exile. Jessie strives to overcome the obstacles of a woman achieving a business of her own in a man’s profession, all the while fighting the demon of forbidden love and an all-consuming longing for what can never be.

Jane Kirkpatrick breathes life into her characters, guiding the reader into another world, another time. In An Absence So Great and its prequel, A Flickering Light, Kirkpatrick draws on her own ancestry, skillfully blending actual details with creative situations resulting in a unique perspective of time and place.

Throughout the book, Kirkpatrick features actual historical photographs with vivid descriptions of the subjects and minute details of the photography process. These actual images bring even more awareness of early 19th century America.

I very much enjoyed yet another Jane Kirkpatrick novel. Her writing embodies the human spirit, its weaknesses, its power to overcome and its conquering faith. She is a superb storyteller.

For more information about the author and to sign up for her newsletter Story Sparks, visit www.jkbooks.com.

Book Review: A Flickering Light

Jane Kirkpatrick’s novel, A Flickering Light, was inspired by her grandmother’s life and characterized by the author as biographical fiction. The author’s typical attention to detail and thorough research make this a story to remember.

Jessie Ann Gaebele’s love of photography dominates her life. Nothing pleases her more than to roam the countryside with her camera to capture Minnesota landscapes. Boys her own age bore her; homemaking is nothing but a series of chores. What could be more fascinating than finding just the right angle, telling stories with her images? At nearly sixteen, Jessie is through with school, but must find work to contribute to her family’s finances.

Jesse applies for a job as a photographer’s assistant. Luckily, the job suites her interests more than some jobs she’s held, though for her, portraits were not as satisfying as the spontaneity of nature photography. Soon though, she finds her niche in the shop, and under the guidance of her employer, Mr. Bauer, shows unusual talent for studio photography. Usually considered a man’s profession, photography in the early 1900's had toxic hazards with explosive powders and darkroom chemicals, including mercury, that could cause serious and recurring illness and even death.

Ms. Kirkpatrick has an extraordinary ability to draw readers into the world of her characters. In A Flickering Light, we recognize Jesse as an emerging young woman, dedicated to her unusual profession, but who soon realizes she can’t control her attraction for Mr. Bauer. We sympathize with Mr. Bauer’s struggle dealing with his children whom he loves, his effort to appease sour and often ill Mrs. Bauer, and the guilt he bears for the tenderness he feels toward Jesse.

Not only is the author adept in drawing us into this complex story, we also are brought into the world of photography, not only its creative nuances, but also the challenges and mechanics of the profession in the early 1900's.

A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick is an amazing novel, one I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s a book you want to savor and don’t want it to end.

A Flickering Light, ISBN 978-1-57856-980-9, is available at your favorite bookstore or through Amazon.com. A sequel, An Absence So Great is due to be released March, 2010. For more information about Jane Kirkpatrick, visit her website www.jkbooks.com.

Book Review: A Mending at the Edge by Jane Kirkpatrick

A Mending at the Edge, the third of Jane Kirkpatrick’s Change and Cherish Historical Series, is the poignant story of a woman who turns grief to strength, self-denial to hope and obedience to spirituality.

Based on the life of German-American Emma Wagner Giesy, the novel weaves the lives of a utopian Christian communal society of the1850s led with the iron hand by its founder, Wilhelm Keil. As Aurora, the colony in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, struggles for survival, Emma struggles to find meaning in her life, a life marked with grief over the death of her beloved husband, espousal abuse from her second husband, separation from her sons and emotional distancing from her parents and siblings. As Emma strives to find a meaningful place in this strict society, she is often criticized that she is different, doing what she feels is best over the good of the community.

Slowly, Emma finds her way through serving others. Finally getting her own place to live for herself and her four children, Emma opens her home to others in need of nurturing and comfort. She begins to weave friendships with the women of the colony through a Sunday “house church,” a time for sewing and sharing. Although still occasionally accused of relying on herself rather than on God, Emma finds the path to her own salvation.

A Mending at the Edge is a remarkable novel tempered with true historical details, told with a heart for loyalty and trust in mankind. As in her other historical novels, Kirkpatrick weaves intricate characters with everyday happenings, made more powerful by the determination to find life’s meaning and contentment.