The Memory Weaver

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.


Cafe Lily's Review:

This book is based on the true account of Eliza Spaulding, daughter of pioneer missionaries Henry and Eliza Spaulding, who ministered to the Nez Perce Indians. Her strength and determination become evident, as readers discover all that Eliza has gone through.

When Eliza grows into adulthood, eventually marries and starts her own family, it becomes clear to her, that her experiences may not be exactly as she remembers them. As the author takes readers back and forth from the past to the present, Eliza's struggles tug at your heart.

This wasn't my favorite book by this author. I love historical fiction and this fits the bill, but it had more of a biographical tone to it than I expected. The back and forth from present day to the diary, was a bit distracting for me. Overall, a good read for history buffs, it just wasn't my favorite book to read.