Emma of Aurora: The Complete Change and Cherish Trilogy by JANE KIRKPATRICK

Emma of Aurora:

The Complete Change and Cherish Trilogy:

 

1. A Clearing in the Wild

2. A Tendering in the Storm

3. A Mending at the Edge

 

by

Jane Kirkpatrick

 

 

Product Description

A Clearing in the Wild
When Emma's outspoken ways and growing skepticism lead to a clash with the 1850s Bethel, Missouri colony's beloved leader, she finds new opportunities to pursue her dreams of independence. But as she clears a pathway West to her truest and deepest self, she discovers something she never expected: a yearning for the warm embrace of community.

A Tendering in the Storm
Determined to raise her children on her own terms, Emma suddenly finds herself alone and pregnant with her third child, struggling to keep her family secure in the remote coastal forest of the Washington Territory. As clouds of despair close in, she must decide whether to continue in her own waning strength or to humble herself and accept help from the very people she once so eagerly left behind.

A Mending at the Edge
As a mother, daughter, sister, and estranged wife, Emma struggles to find her place inside-and outside-the confines of her religious community. Emma reaches out to others on the fringe, searching for healing and purpose. By blending her unique talents with service to others, she creates renewed hope as she weaves together the threads of family, friends, and faith.

 

Author Bio

Jane Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, teacher and mental health professional. Her award-winning essays, articles, and humor have appeared in over fifty publications such as Decision, Country and Daily Guideposts. The inspiration for A Sweetness to the Soul grew from a fifty-year old essay a Depression-era schoolboy wrote about his distant ancestors - the Sherars.

A lively and humorous speaker, Kirkpatrick is a frequent keynote presenter for conferences, women's retreats, and workshops. In addition to her historical fiction which dramatizes pioneer life, Homestead relates, with love and laughter, her own family's modern-day struggle to catch a dream in the Oregon Territory.

 

 

MY REVIEW 
 

　
Set in the 1850s and based on actual people and events of the tiny community of Bethel Missouri and its people, by novelist Jane Kirkpatrick is the engaging story that centers around Emma Wagner,a young woman who is part of the Bethel colony, a close-knit religious community ruled by a charismatic and autocratic leader, Dr. Wilhelm Kiel.

In the first book A Clearing In The Wild, we discover that young 17-year-old Emma Wagner of the community is in love and ready to tie the knot with Christian Giesy, 20 years her senior and only a year younger than her father. The leader of the religious colony, Father Keil, is against the match, and his word is usually law among the group. After having to wait they are finally able to marry but their marriage is not what they had hoped for.

A Tendering in the Storm is the second book in the series, and the one that broke my heart.As the story continues from book one, newly married Emma and Christian travel from their home in Missouri to the new frontier - Willapa Bay.When Christian is taken away from Emma, and she has to survive with 2 small children, pregnant with her third, there are many events that unfold that are exciting and fascinating to read about. Because of Christian's death Emma has even turned her back on God determined she doesn't need Him either. During her grieving time only one man proposed marriage to pick up where Christian left off and that was the strange Jack Giesy.

A Mending at the Edge finishes Emma's story. She has escaped from her abusive second husband Jack, back to the repressive Bethel colony. Although offering her shelter and work at the colony, its leader, Wilhelm Keil has made it clear that Emma must do what she can to reconcile with Jack.

This unpredictable story, based on a true one, has it all - adventure and survival in a new frontier, history, love, hate, compassion, cruelty, family, friendship, struggles with faith. I loved the way issues with God and faith were presented and with characters fully developed to portray each with their strengths and weaknesses, beauty and ugliness, regardless of their degree of faith. This series was captivating, keeping my interest and desire to find out what was going to happen next.

***I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All opinions are my own.