The Daughter's Walk by Jane Kirkpatrick (ISBN 978-1-4000-7429-7) (WaterBrook Press 2012)

Jane Kirkpatrick never disappoints.  Once again, in The Daughter’s Walk, she has brought to the page the story of strong women during a time in our country’s history that found many families struggling to maintain their family’s income and home and women struggling to find their place in society, the work force and politics.   

Helga Estby and her daughter, Clara, and their historical attempt to walk the breadth of our country was undertaken in an effort to save the family’s farm in Washington state.  The story of the Estby women’s walk is true to a point, that point being Helga and Clara’s return home to devastating news.

Here, Kirkpatrick draws on her research skills to learn more about Clara and where her journey then led her.  With information provided by newspaper records, document records and conversations with descendants of Helga and Clara’s, she is able to piece together historical facts with the product of a gifted imagination to weave Clara’s story through the next several years.   Many characters are founded in fact, and many are created by Kirkpatrick’s unique ability to thread the story with characters of her own creation.

This intricate tapestry, woven on a colorful background of people and places, causes the reader to sometimes pause to ponder one’s own life journey, including loss, separation and often exile.  Questions come to mind as to why these things happened, and is it possible to achieve forgiveness and renewed relationships after what seems like too many years have passed.

Kirkpatrick offers her readers stories of real women, who have exhibited the strength and wit to make a difference in family, faith and the history of our great country. To read Kirkpatrick’s works is to become a lover of history and the women who played a role in forming it.

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I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. 
 

Read Chapter 1 Here: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2010/01/12/sneak-peek-the-daughters-walk-by-jane-kirkpatrick/

About Jane Kirkpatrick: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/author-spotlight.php?authorid=15809
 

Visit Jane Kirkpatrick's site:  http://www.jkbooks.com/

Book Trailer:

Book Review: Stones from the River by Urusula Hegi (@ 1994) (Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995)

Ursula Hegi writes the story of Trudi Montag, a Zwerg -- a dwarf -- different from everyone in her world with great compassion and true sense of understanding who Trudi is and what her struggles are.

Trudi's story is set in the small town of Burgdorf in Germany.  It is 1915 and as the story begins, almost all the men of Burgdorf are at the eastern front fighting a war.  The women are in control of their homes, children and even the town.  And this is the world Trudi is born into.

These women care for the infant Trudi -- her mother is mentally ill and shows no interest in the tiny babe.  

From the outset Trudi's differences are quickly noted.  Her eyes look older than those of an infant.  She is stout, her head looking larger than her body.  Early in her childhood Trudi comes to believe that everyone can know, just as she does, what is going on inside everyone else.

Hegi continues Trudi's story through both World Wars, interspersing vignettes involving other characters who impact Trudi in a variety of ways -- loving, hurtful and compromising ways.

Despite her setbacks and differences, Trudi faces up to and conquers many difficult situations.  It is a story of courage, determination and strength.

Hegi has delivered an epic work in Trudi's story -- a story applicable to our own times.  Written with a candor that holds the reader's interest, Hegi touches on the core of the Nazi's desire to eliminate those they deemed less than human.  Differences have always existed between the peoples of our world, and they continue to exist.  Trudi's story brings to harsh reality the truth of our humanity to man.  This is a work for all time.