In this coming-of-age story of Eliza Spalding, we watch a girl become a woman in the fairly untamed region of the Pacific northwest. Daughter of missionary parents, Eliza carves out her way. Always dogged by memories of abduction from an Indian tribe close to the settlement where her parents ministered, can she find her way and heal from that incident so long ago?
This is the first novel I've read by Jane Kirpatrick. She clearly took great effort in researching the life and times of Eliza Spalding and her family and that of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the mission establishments in what is now Washington state and surrounding areas. The characters were real and Kirpatrick gave them voice and humanized them, even though this is a work of fiction.
I really appreciated the map and the cast of characters section at the beginning of the book. I'm not familiar much with the locale of the setting in the story and this greatly helped paint a picture in my mind's eye.
The structure of the book was a little confusing for me to follow. The "memory weaving" was done strategically using Eliza's mother's diary to almost preface or mirror what was going on in Eliza's life at the time. So, there was a lot of back and forth between memories and current story line. Then nearing the end of the book, Eliza has an epiphany...I can't say much more than that. But, by the end of the book, I found myself wanting to know "so what really happened"? Maybe a short blurb at the front of the book with the actual history surrounding the abduction, etc. would have been good. There was information at the back of the book, but I discovered this after the fact.
The characters of Eliza's sisters, father and Andrew were nicely peppered and unique in their own way adding spice to the story. They too have their own struggles we see.
The book is written in the first person. A nice touch given the intimacy (non-romantic) of the story line between mother and daughter and the inner struggle they each had.
This was a storyline that makes you think and puts you into the minds of two strong women. Put it during an exciting time of our nations growth and in a rare setting as well, you have the makings of an interesting read. I give it 4 stars out of 5.
(I was given this book for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
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