A Clearing in the Wild

April 1, 2006
Emma Wagner's conformist 1850s Missouri community strives to be a utopian haven, but it frowns upon dissent, especially from women. After marrying its second in command, Christian Giesy, Emma and her husband lead a small party to the Pacific Northwest, where their authoritarian leader, Wilhelm Keil, has sent them to scout a new location for their colony. Emma's opinions on the place of women and colony life are at odds with Keil's, and eventually she tries to influence her husband to break away from the larger group. Readers will identify with Emma's struggles; fans of Westerns with female protagonists will appreciate the well-developed characters. The book may also appeal to fans of Beverly Lewis's -Annie's People - and -Abram's Daughters - series. Kirkpatrick, author of the -Kinship and Courage - and -Tender Ties - series, lives in eastern Oregon.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2006
Here begins another of Kirkpatrick's trilogies about the settlement of Oregon, this one set in the early 1850s. At stage center is a restless young female, Emma Wagner, in the midst of a quiet, then not so quiet, rebellion against the world of men. First up, there's the dour patriarch of Emma's religious colony, who thinks that childbirth is God's punishment to women for original sin. But Emma is clever and marries the colony's number-two man, Christian Giesy. Though pregnant, she manages to accompany Christian on the hazardous trail from Bethel, Missouri, to the coast of Oregon, where the patriarch has determined the colony should move. Along the way, Emma develops her own theology: colonies may not be such a good idea; good neighbors and equality of the sexes are better ones. The sequels will no doubt treat what the patriarch thinks of all this. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)