Jane Kirkpatrick

Dear Readers,

One of my favorite authors is coming to our store in a week.  April 14th at 7:00 p.m. Jane Kirkpatrick will be here signing her books and speaking about writing.  She is in town for Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Writing and graciously said yes when asked if she would be willing to visit our store.  I am so excited.  

The Memory Weaver is Jane's most recent book. She also has a new title due out in September.  The book club I belong to just recently read and discussed the book and we all figured out that we were born in the correct century.  It was so much work to survive back in 1800's out in the unsettled west. 

Eliza Spalding Warren was sent away to a school in a neighboring town while her parents continued being missionaries to the local Nez Perce Indians.  While she was there, a group of Cayuse Indians attacked and wiped out the men and boys, and took the children and women hostage.   Eliza is the only one who speaks the language and is the interpreter for both sides.  

Later in life, her husband wants to return to the area to live.  Eliza is not sure she will be able to follow him, but she does and she has to deal with more than her own memories.  

I am just fascinated by Jane's ability to find a small story, whether a line in a journal or just something a family has passed down to each other, and write a complete novel about it.  She has been doing this for years and each story tells a different tale of how our country was settled.   

She reminds us that it wasn't easy and it took a special person to survive.  Not everyone could do it and it cost many of our fellow countrymen and women their lives.  But we can learn something from them all and that is what makes our country great. 

Happy Reading,