The Memory Weaver ~ Review

The Memory Weaver
By Jane Kirkpatrick

Eliza Spalding Warren was a survivor of the Whitman tragedy of 1847 - a massacre that left her emotionally scarred.  This is her story and how this experience set the course for not only her life but that of her parents, her brother, her sisters, her husband, and her own children.

Eliza has nightmares about her time as a hostage of the Cayuse Indians.  Though she and a few others managed to survive this massacre - she is still a captive - a captive to her fears and her memories.

But the stability she has known and created is threatened when her husband determines to make a new start in the territory where Eliza's nightmare took place.  Can facing the past bring her healing or will it make the wound deeper?

Memory is a funny thing - what we remember about an event can differ greatly from what truly was and is reality.  Eliza's memories have shaped her life, but when the entries of her mother's journal are woven throughout this book takes on an added dimension.  The story is fleshed out as we see Eliza's story through the eyes of both mother and daughter.  

It is a story many are familiar with but only in regard to the lives that were lost - the Whitmans (Marcus and Narcissa).  This story delves into the lives of those who survived and continued on. Those who refused, ultimately, to be held captive to their memories.  But can one ever truly be free from the events that shaped one's life?

The Memory Weaver is a story that will touch you as Eliza come to terms with what she has experienced and fights for a future for those she loves.  Fans of historical fiction will appreciate the complex depths and emotions found within this book.  Another excellent book club selection if you are looking for a suggestion.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher Revell in exchange for my honest review.


About the Book:

"Jane Kirkpatrick puts flesh and blood on the bones of history. Set against an authentic nineteenth-century background, this is a superb story of a woman's struggle to triumph over time and place. . . . A memorable book."--Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author

Eliza Spalding Warren was just a child when she was taken hostage by the Cayuse Indians during a massacre in 1847. Now a mother of two, Eliza faces a new kind of dislocation; her impulsive husband wants to make a new start in another territory, which will mean leaving her beloved home and her mother's grave--and returning to the land of her captivity. 

Haunted by memories and hounded by struggle, Eliza longs to know how her mother dealt with the trauma of their ordeal. As she searches the pages of her mother's diary, Eliza is stunned to find that her own recollections tell only part of the story.

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. Get 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.