Reviewer: Robyn Roberts
Title: A Mending at the Edge - 3rd in the Change & Cherish Historical Series
Author: Jane Kirkpatrick
Publisher: Waterbrook Press
ISBN-10: 1-57856-979-6
Re-release Date: April 2008
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
Year/Setting: Oregon Territory in the 1860’s
Overall Rating: 3.0
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Jane's Website:
www.jkbooks.com
A fictional story based on the life of Emma Wagner Giesy. She was a German-American who was the only woman sent to the Oregon Territory in the 1850’s to scout a place for a communal society. Emma has seen hard times—the death of her first husband, an abusive marriage to a second husband whom she separates from, but does not divorce. She longs for a life of purpose and struggles to find meaning in the tasks of the communal society.
Emma’s struggle for purpose speaks to people throughout the ages. Who hasn’t questioned the meaning of their own life at some point in time? Emma has forward thinking ideas for a woman in the 1800’s. I enjoyed her story, but think it would have better for me to have read the previous books in this series. I felt like I was missing a lot of information in the beginning and certain things never became clear to me. It took me several chapters to feel like I could get into the rhythm of the story.
I struggled with Emma as things that she should have been in control of were taken out of her control. While Brother Keil may have had good intentions towards Emma and the entire community of Aurora, I myself rebel against one self-appointed leader who doesn’t have anyone to answer to. I did find that the more Emma learned to find peace in her life, the more enjoyable the book became to me.
Ms. Kirkpatrick has done an excellent job of using the facts about Emma and her life that we have available to us to launch a fictional account of what may have occurred. I appreciated her tenacity to keeping the factual information intact while spinning us a story of the hope women all have for their lives, children and futures.
Robyn
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