Beloved Hope by Tracie Peterson - A Book Review

     

     This is the second book in Peterson’s Heart of the Frontier series. Book one, Treasured Grace focused on the eldest of the Flanigan sisters, while Beloved Hope focuses on the middle sister. Set in the area of Oregon City in the mid-1800s, this second installment largely revolves around the trial of five Cayuse men being tried for the atrocities of the Whitman Mission Massacre. Many townspeople and survivors of the massacre feared the men, including the one who repeatedly abused Hope Flanigan, would not be put to death in an effort to appease the local tribes and thus ward off future attacks. Hope was counting on their death to ease her fears, fears that had taken over her life, but would it?

     Hope, convinced her ordeal had ruined her for any decent man, had put aside any idea of falling and love and marrying. Lieutenant Lance Kenner, tasked with guarding the Cayuse waiting to stand trial, was fighting his own demons, filled with resentment toward the man he held responsible for both of his older brothers’ deaths. Now, ready to return from Oregon City to his plantation in New Orleans, he was not interested in forming any romantic alliances. Yet, Hope and Lance feel drawn to one another. Is there any chance for them, or will bitterness darken any hopes of happiness for either of them?

     I am anxiously awaiting the third book in this series, to learn of the important life decisions made by the youngest Flanigan sister as she considers a path just opening up to women, a college education, I highly recommend Beloved Hope, and Treasured Grace for fans of historical and romance fiction. Both readers of secular and Christian fiction will find this series appealing. While there is enough information provided to make this book comprehensible as a stand-alone read, much of the emotion will be lost by not reading the series in order.

     I thank Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Beloved Hope in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for providing the review.   

This Road We Traveled by Jane Kirkpatrick - A Book A Review

           

     Sharp tongued yet loving, opinionated yet understanding, lame yet persevering, brave yet fearful of becoming a burden, a life filled with dichotomy, light well spent. This is Tabitha Moffat Brown, pioneer, also known as “The Mother of Oregon.” Once again Jane Kirkpatrick has fleshed out the life of a strong woman from America’s history, holding true to her life, drawing reasonable conclusions, and adding enough fiction to allow her to live once again in the hearts and minds of readers. In this endeavor, Kirkpatrick is a master.

     Tabitha Brown, along with her son’s, Orus Brown’s, family and her daughter’s, Pherne Pringle’s, family, traveled from St. Charles, Missouri to the Salem and Forest Grove areas of Oregon, traveling together most of the way, then with Orus taking the Oregon Trail, and Tabby and the Pringles separating to follow the California Trail into Oregon. Those following the Applegates through northern California encountered extreme hardships, with the survivors entering their new lives in Oregon with not much more than the clothes on their backs, depending on the kindness of those who had gone before.

     Tabby’s relationship with her children plays an important role in her story. While her deep love for them, and them for her is obvious, there is tension and more than just a bit of friction between them. While Tabby may not totally comprehend the root of this, she does, often unsuccessfully, try to avoid adding fuel to the fire. Success does seem to come more easily once Tabby finds meaningful ways to spend her light during her later years.

     While reading This Road We Traveled I flagged twenty pages on which I underlined pearls of wisdom, quotes that I will copy into my reading log to revisit in the future. How many authors of fiction offer such treasure? I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction, to those looking for strong female role models, and to those who love the beauty of words. I thank Revell Publishing and the Christian Blog Alliance for providing this book for my honest opinion. I received no monetary compensation for providing this review. 

A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpratrick – A Book Review

     The thing that most impresses me about Jane Kirkpatrick’s writing is her meticulous research and the care she takes with the authenticity of her story.  Any assumptions that she makes are logical and supported by research.  The author’s note in A Light in the Wilderness provides information allowing the reader to differentiate between known facts and details added for the benefit of the story.  Ms Kirkpatrick provides the logic behind assumptions that were made, supporting the added details. 

     In this story I learned about Oregon’s exclusion and lash laws.  At a time when existing and potentially new states had to decide whether to be slave or free states, these laws attempted to eliminate choosing by excluding people of color from the population.  While the laws were not consistently enforced and were repealed and reinstated in a variety of versions, there were times when people of color were to be lashed twice a year until they left the territory.  Oregon entered the Union as a free state, but had an exclusion clause in its constitution until 1926, although it was largely unenforced. 

     After moving from Kentucky where she was most likely a slave to Missouri where she was likely given her freedom, our heroine, Letitia, married, in a private ceremony and without the benefit of a license or an official, Davey Carson, a white widower.  Through mutual consent and inspiration they traveled the trail to Oregon, enduring many hardships, and making a life together.  While Davey did not always understand Letitia’s needs, especially her need to feel safe as a free black woman, and was not always able to reconcile her needs with his own desires, he did truly care for her and probably took her opinions into account more than many husbands of the day. 

     Letitia was a light in the wilderness to many as she comforted and coached mothers as their babies entered this world, and as their loved ones were birthed into the next.  As Letitia said, “Tending and mending used threads of many colors.”  Her candle was lit from the flames of those who loved, accepted and befriended her, those who nurtured her from being someone who tried not to stand out, to one who wanted to fit in, to being someone with the courage and faith to stand up for what was right. 

     The most amazing transition in Letitia was in where and how she found freedom.  Initially she longed to be free from slavery.  That granted, she longed to be free of the fear of being placed back into slavery and of being oppressed by a small minded majority.  Later she found freedom in how she chose to look at life, how she chose to remember things, how she chose to forgive and show grace.  She found a type of freedom many would be blessed to find today.

     For those readers who enjoy historical fiction, those who long to see good triumph over evil, and those who root for the underdog, I would highly recommend A Light in the Wilderness.  Letitia’s light will warm your heart.  I thank Revell Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for providing A Light in the Wilderness for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.