Another wonderful Christian Historical by master story
teller Jane Kirkpatrick, based on facts about American Indian missionaries Eliza
and Henry Spalding, and their daughter Eliza. This is the story about the
daughter - expanding on actual diaries and documents - mixed as Jane
Kirkpatrick so skillfully does with faith and life wisdoms.
At the age of 10 young Eliza was among the hostages
taken by the Cayuse, a traumatic event (including massacres) that took place
for 39 days before the British paid the ransom for their release. Eliza was
forced to be an interpreter, since she was the only one who spoke all the
languages of the captors and hostages. This
explores her life as she lives on after this tragedy, expected to act as an
adult, and goes on to marry and raise children of her own.
The story of her relationship with her father, her
husband and actual events in their lives is very interesting - growing up and
still coping with memories of her early life. It's woven with excerpts from her
mother's diary, sometimes showing that things were not always the way that she
perceived them from her 10 year old vantage point. You can't help but be
touched by the story of this strong woman of the 1800's and her story of
survival.
From Eliza's mother's diaries:
"... suffering arrives when one longs for what is
not and can never be again. "
And during her life among the Indians: ". . . she
aided me in understanding that the way I saw the world was not the only way to
see it. "
As stated by the author: "It's my hope that this
story allows each of us shaped by tragic and painful events to see that we are
not alone and that there is a way to weave new cloth."
Disclosure of Material
Connection: I received this book free from the Baker Publishing Group, Revell Reads - Netgalley book
review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The
opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with
the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use ofEndorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”.
From the book:
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.
