When you hear someway say "beautiful words", what does it mean? I would point them to read Jane Kirkpatrick's latest novel, "The Memory Weaver". Her words dance around like it wants to get to know me, its reader. It's not poetry, but words that flow.
And what about this cover? Don't you just love it? The subtleness of the colors in the background with strong colors of the dress and blanket just creates a prepossessing sight. Almost like I'm entranced by it.
Now onto the story. "The Memory Weaver" is a fictional novel based on true events and real people. It starts a few years after the Whitman/Walla Walla Massacre of 1847 during which Eliza Spaulding Warren, our heroine was taken hostage at the young age of ten. Now we follow through the story of her life since, with memories that doesn't seem to line up with the accounts of others, and specifically from her mother's diary. This story is about her facing the traumatic events she witnessed and endured in the past, and struggles to maintain her faith as a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. There will be some romance, but this is not about that.
I enjoyed this book with a few minor qualms. Aside from the beautiful prose and the attractive cover, the story itself is interesting. It interchanges between Eliza's narrative and her mother's diary entries, telling the story of the past and present. The minor misgiving I have with this is the "personality" of Eliza and her mother. They are so similar that as you read, sometimes it can get confusing if you tend to breeze through, especially since they are both named Eliza. Sometimes, I will need to stop myself and go backwards a bit. It can also be a bit slow at times, but I felt it moved along as well. It's almost like a memoir, as you follow along with Eliza in "weaving" her memories and finding truth and strength. If you love history, especially regarding the settling in the West and the conflicts with Native Indians, this is a great story to read. For purely historical romance fans, this might fall short of your expectations. Overall, I would recommend "The Memory Weaver".
Released Date: September 1, 2015
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group for an honest review.
Jane Kirkpatrickis theNew York Times and CBA bestselling author of more than twenty-five books, includingA Sweetness to the Soul, which won the coveted Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center. Her works have been...
Eliza Spalding Warren was just a child when she was taken hostage by the Cayuse Indians during a massacre in 1847. Now the young mother of two children, Eliza faces a different kind of dislocation; her impulsive husband wants them to make a new start in another territory, which will mean leaving her beloved home and her departed mother's grave--and returning to the land of her captivity. Eliza longs to know how her mother, an early missionary to the Nez Perce Indians, dealt with the challenges of life with a sometimes difficult husband and with her daughter's captivity.
When Eliza is finally given her mother's diary, she is stunned to find that her own memories are not necessarily the whole story of what happened. Can she lay the dark past to rest and move on? Or will her childhood memories always hold her hostage?
Based on true events, The Memory Weaver is New York Times bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick's latest literary journey into the past, where threads of western landscapes, family, and faith weave a tapestry of hope inside every pioneering woman's heart. Readers will find themselves swept up in this emotional story of the memories that entangle us and the healing that awaits us when we bravely unravel the threads of the past.
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